Digimon RL
by EnigmaXIII
Summary: This is the story of my Digimon adventures. Many people have enjoyed this story and I hope you do too.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 0: Calm before the…**

Ugh, It's finally Friday (The 11th of November to be exact). I said hi to Don, my bus driver, and took my usual seat. It had been a pretty boring week. As the bus began to whisk me away to school I put my headphones on. I sat looking out the window and thinking about Digimon, like I usually did. At home I'd been working on a drawing of my own original Digimon, called Herpetomon. I was still thinking out some of the minor details. Pretty soon we arrived at Anissa's stop. Anissa goes to an all-girls school and needs to take the bus to my all-boys school, where she later takes a shuttle to her school. When she got on I took my headphones off and sat back. She took her seat and we exchanged friendly waves as usual. Occasionally we'd bring up some topic and discuss that for a while, then fall back into the awkward morning silence. This went on for about a half-hour, then we arrived at school. I sluggishly meandered into school and went up to my locker, got my books and went down to homeroom. I said hello to my friends and the school day began. As the day progressed I found myself sitting in class, incessantly daydreaming of Digimon. By the end of last period I was completely bushed. At least it's finally Friday. I left and got on the bus to find Anissa and the others waiting. "Hello Brendan how was your day?" Anissa asked in her joking way "It was super, how about you?" I replied, "It was swell" she said. Just then the bus left and we were on our way home. After a while of talking with Anissa I put on my headphones and went back to working out the last details on Herpetomon. So far I have him as a reptile-type Digimon, he stands at about my height, 6 '3". He looks a lot like Flamedramon without the armor, plus Herpetomon would be green not blue. Herpetomon would have dark brown eyes and two big fangs coming out either side of his mouth, but aside from that he looks so bland. Then I had an idea, "Maybe I could have a red sash tied around his arm like Garudamon has", I thought. And another idea "I could give him some kind of pigment pattern." New details had finally sprung to life and I was itching to get home and put them into play. Soon we had arrived at my stop, and my ride was waiting. I got in the car and we sped home, Nana was driving me today. She kept trying to make conversation while I replied with simple "yeahs" and "nahs", trying to dodge conversation so as to remember the changes I'd thought up for Herpetomon. When we got home I slipped into my room and grabbed my sketch book and pencil. I began diligently adding the sash and intricate designs along his body. The design was like a long tattoo that snaked its way from his right shoulder down to his right leg. All of the additions took me about an hour. I was very pleased with the results, he looked exactly the way I'd pictured him. Suddenly I was overcome with a desire stronger than anything I'd felt before. "I wish he was real" I mumbled under my breath "I just wish he was real, and I was his Tamer, we'd be so awesome. We could fight wild-ones and maybe save the world a few times." I chuckled to myself. "Ugh, I just…wish he were real."

Suddenly right in front of my face a small ball of light appeared. I was confused, but my first instinct was to touch it. When I reached my hand out the light began to take a form. It was forming into a small intricate little gadget. It was small enough to fit in my palm and it had a complex rectangle shape. It had a small screen with what looked like an affirming button and some arrow buttons for interface underneath. "Is this what I think it is!" I thought to myself "It's…a Digivice! Someone has heard my plea" The Digivice turned itself on in my hand and a holographic display opened up. On the display I could see a digi-egg that had been cracked asunder. I was confused at what this meant, but then I thought "Digimon come from eggs, right, so maybe this is my Digimon, and he's hatched already." Then the display shifted over to a compass like display. This could only mean one thing… my Digimon was entering the Real World. I had to think fast, I couldn't miss my Digimon's arrival. I grabbed my shoes and a jacket and left. I sprinted down the street following the compass. I was tired before, but seeing the Digivice brought me new energy. It was leading me down the street towards the town park. Luckily it was relatively dark out so it wouldn't be too hard to get him home. Eventually I was led to the Holt School, an old, broken down school down the street from the park. I slowed down as I approached the school. Then, behind the school, I saw a geyser of some kind of smoke shoot up from the ground. I was soon engulfed in the strange vapor. I began walking blindly through the fog. As I was stumbling through the fog I noticed a small field of some kind of black fog, this was it, I noticed a figure starting to rise out of the black field. I could barely see it from the fog, but he was rising, vertically from the black space. Soon the Digimon had risen up from the space and was standing on the ground. I approached slowly and as the fog cleared a little I could make out the Digimon. It was Herpetomon. I could hardly believe what I was seeing, he was absolutely perfect, Exactly what I'd imagined. He was looking the other way so I simply said "Hello?" He turned but he didn't look at all surprised, he just looked at me for a moment that seemed like forever. I can't explain the feeling, it was incredible looking into the eyes of the creature I actually created. In his Dark-brown eyes I could see all of the adventures we'd have, and the relationship we'd build. Then he said in a smooth, deep voice "Oh, hello."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1: Something New**

"You're Herpetomon, Right?" I asked.

"Yeah, I am." he said "Who are you?" I took a step closer

"I'm Brendan Mehu and I created you, you're my partner." He looked a little surprised at this, but it's not like I could blame him.

"What are you talking about." He asked "I don't even know you."

"Follow me and I'll show you what I mean" I said "But here put this on" I took off my jacket and handed it to him. I figured it's dark out and I could pass him off as just a big human.

"Alright, it's not like I have anywhere else to go." He took my jacket and put it on.

"Good, thanks, now follow me." I began to lead him back to the house. We walked briskly and soon reached the house. "Okay this is my house" I told him, then I led him around back. "Now I need you to wait here while I go inside to open my window, then I'll lower something so you can climb in"

"Ok, I'll wait here" He had a sly look on his face. I quickly went inside to find that Nana was asleep in the living room down the hall from my room, perfect. I went into my room and opened the window. Herpetomon looked up.

"Now hold on let me get something to pull you up" I called to him.

"Oh don't worry about it" he replied "I can jump it" When he said this it hit me. I did give him reverse jointed legs, which probably makes him an awesome jumper. "Watch, back away from the window" he said, so I did. Then he simply bounded into my window and rolled to a stop. My room is on the first floor, but it is still a pretty big jump.

"Woah, that was awesome, you're awesome." I said, marveling at his skill. I finally got a good look at him in the light of my room. He really was exactly what I imagined. He was about my height with muscular reverse-jointed legs and a lean compact physique. His arms looked strong as well, he had 6 fingers counting the thumbs and a set of mean white claws.

"Thanks" He looked a little embarrassed "It comes naturally. Now what's this about you being my creator-slash-partner?"

"Here, have a seat on my bed and I'll tell you the story" He sat down and I was pacing as I began to tell the story. "Okay, well, about 2 hours ago I finished a drawing of my dream Digimon. Strong and athletic yet cool and _enigmatic _()Ever since I first heard of Digimon I've wanted to be a Tamer, A human with a Digimon partner. Once I finished my drawing I made a wish, stronger than any before that my dream Digimon would come to the Real World where we could finally meet. When I made the wish this little Digivice appeared and led me to you. You are my dream Digimon, here look at the proof." I showed him the drawing I'd made of him.

"Aww, you caught my bad side. But wait…what you said doesn't make sense" He began pondering something.

"What doesn't make sense?" I asked, I didn't understand the problem.

"Well, I wasn't just created a few hours ago, I can recall hatching from my digi-egg a month or so ago. Then a few hours ago, in the Digital World I passed out and when I woke up I had this sash and designs on my body. Soon after that I was on my way to this world." He explained

"Wow, now that makes no sense." I said bluntly. I had to think it over for a while then I can up with something. "I have an idea, So you know that I finished the drawing of you 2 hours ago, but I actually thought you up around last month. And I bet that when you passed out in the Digital World some force was reconfiguring your data to go along with the changes I made."

"Yeah, maybe." he replied "I don't really know, but all that really matters is that I'm here with you now and there must be some reason"

"Couldn't have said it better myself, but I think I'll leave the "Why" for some other time, I don't know about you, but I'm about to pass out from hunger." His eyes lit up at the thought of food.

"You seem to know a lot about Digimon, don't you know, Digimon love to eat!"

"Alright, well what do you want? I can't really cook you anything because Nana would ask questions."

"Good point, well I love blueberries actually, if you happen to have some." I went and got us a box of blueberries, which happens to be my favorite snack too. I brought them back into my room where Herpetomon was eagerly waiting. I handed him the box of blueberries and sat on my bed with him. "Thanks" he said politely. I, having lost my appetite, just sat watching Herpetomon who was ravaging the food as though he hadn't eaten in days.

"So Herpetomon, what exactly is the Digital World like?" I asked. He looked up with a mouth full of Blueberries and swallowed quickly to answer my question.

"Oh, it's beautiful." he explained "And huge too. The deal with the Digital World is that everything in it is composed of data from the Real World, so you can imagine how huge it is. The only real problem with it is that it's dangerous and unpredictable. It's kill or be killed, way different from how things appear to be here."

"Wow, it sounds interesting" I said sincerely "Maybe I'll get to go someday" Herpetomon had already finished half of the box.

"Yeah, maybe" he said. We were both tired from the events of the evening and it was already 10 o'clock. I figured I'd go to bed when Herpetomon was done. Until then I just sat in contemplative silence. I decided to take a look at the digivice and see what it could do. I pulled it out of my pocket and began messing around with it. I pressed the arrow button and the display switched to some kind of other channel. When I pressed it again there was a new channel or mode. From what I could see there's

_Compass mode_, which I used to find Herpetomon before.

_Digimon-analyzer mode_, which I assume, is used to find information on any Digimon we come across.

Then there's something called _View mode_ is a strange mode that allows me to see what Herpetomon is seeing.

Lastly, the strangest mode of them all, is just a blank screen, no title or anything.

"Well this is an interesting gadget, I bet we'll figure out its mysteries too as time goes on." Herpetomon said. He was long finished with the food, but I was too involved in my research to notice.

"Yeah. Gadget, there ya go, I think I'll dub this thing the D-Gadget." I said ". I'll be back in a sec, wait here." I went out into the living room to say goodnight to mom who I hadn't even realized had come home. I brushed and slipped back to my room. I took one of the pillows off my bed and handed it to him. "Here. You can sleep on the throw rug until I figure something else out. I'll lock the door so we should be OK during the night."

"Alright, good" he said "Good night see you tomorrow"

"Yeah, good night" I said.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2: First Time for everything**

I didn't sleep so well, as expected. I woke up at around 2 in the morning. I was overwhelmed with thoughts and worries about my future with Herpetomon. Such thoughts as "I wonder what his other forms are like.", "What is the real purpose of him being here?", and "How am I going to hide him when he digivolves?" floated through my head. Even though these thoughts clouded my mind I didn't come up with a reasonable conclusion to any of them. When I eventually settled down, I laid staring at the ceiling. While I was staring blankly I realized to my horror that my room was silent. I became flustered, What if Herpetomon left or disappeared or something? I couldn't see anything in the pitch black shade of the room, so I called out to him.

"Herpetomon, Herpetomon!" I practically yelled. I hadn't been with him for long, but just the thought of losing him made me weak. I needed to hear him, to make sure he wasn't part of some elaborate dream. I scrambled out of bed and turned the lights on. Thankfully Herpetomon was lying sprawled on my floor. He woke up after all of the commotion. Without even realizing it I just dropped on my knees and hugged him.

"Wha, Brendan, What's going on, what happened?" He asked.

"I thought…I thought I lost you, I thought you might have left me alone." I was practically sobbing on him. I pulled myself together and sat across from him. He looked at me with a very understanding and caring expression on his face.

"Oh, that's it, well trust me you don't have to worry about that. This is a partnership we have here. You make me stronger and I'm here to help fulfill your destiny" he explained in his suave and deep voice. "We need to trust each other if this is going to work. Just being around you makes me feel complete, like I have a real purpose so don't worry about me leaving you. You're stuck with me." He said with a smirk. I was amazed at his wisdom, but what he said brought me to my senses.

"Right, I'm sorry, I just needed to realize that. From now on we're partners and friends till the end." I proclaimed. I realize how corny that sounded, but I meant it. Then, after all of the din I heard a knock at my door. I quickly gestured for Herpetomon to hide in the closet. I opened the door a crack to find Mom and Dave peering in.

"Brendan what happened? We heard yelling." Mom asked nervously.

"Huh, oh yeah, I, uh fell out of bed and hit my head on the floor." Was the only excuse I could come up with.

"But why were you yelling?" Dave asked incriminatingly

"Because hitting one's head on the floor tends to hurt" I said jokingly. "Don't worry about it."

"OK, fine, we're going back to bed." She said as they dragged themselves away. I shut and locked the door and Herpetomon came out.

"Whew, close call." I sighed. It was mutually understood that we were going back to bed too, so I got in bed and Herpetomon lay down on his impromptu bed.

"Herpetomon?" I said

"Yeah," he responded

"'Till the end" I said

"'Till the end" He replied

This time I slept until 6:30, which is about my usual time. Mom and Dave were still asleep and so was Herpetomon. I let him sleep and began making us waffles in the kitchen. Not frozen waffles, but real hot Belgian waffles. As I added the ingredients I noticed it was an abnormally dark and shady November morning. When I had added the ingredients and began mixing I could hear Herpetomon waking up in my room.

"Huh, Brendan where'd you go, Hello?" I could hear him scrambling around my room.

"Herpetomon I'm out here" I called to him. "It's OK, my parents are asleep you can come out for a while."

"Oh, duh." he chuckled as he came out of my room through the den and into the kitchen. "Pretty nice house." he commented "What'cha makin'?"

"I'm "makin'" some waffles" I told him. "Hungry?" I joked

"What did I tell you yesterday? Oh, I get it, ha ha ha." He accentuated his laughing sarcastically. Beep Beep Beep, the waffles were done. I gave the waffles to Herpetomon.

"Here take these to my room, Mom and Dave should be down soon. I'll be in in a sec." I told him. He hurried back to my room and I cleaned up the mess from the waffles. As I thought Mom and Dave came down a few minutes after.

"What are you up to?" Mom asked.

"Nothing" I said "Just making waffles". She looked at me insinuatingly, but I just slinked back into my room. Herpetomon was half way through the first waffle already. I sat and ate with him. They were perfect, as usual. When I finished and cleaned up I asked "What should we do today? What do Digimon like to do, besides eating?"

"I don't know about other Digimon, but I like reading and exercising." Said Herpetomon.

I myself was an avid reader, so I asked "What do you like to read?" We continued to have a discussion on various books and authors. Then I showed him my collection of books he was impressed. We just spent the morning reading and talking.

At around 5:00 at night we were just hanging around my room. Herpetomon was intently thumbing through the dictionary and I was drawing some random sketches. Suddenly Herpetomon jumped to his feet and stared at the wall.

"Herpetomon what's going on?" I asked. He didn't respond. He just stared blankly at the wall. Then the strangest thing happened Herpetomon's eyes actually began to change color. Slowly his eyes changed from a deep dark brown to a bright almost luminescent green. Then a second surprise, my D-Gadget was rumbling on my desk, it turned to the analyzer channel.

"Brendan," Herpetomon said sternly "A Digimon is breaking through to this world."

"What! Right now?" I asked "Oh, I get it, you can sense when a Digimon Bioemerges. OK lead me there, if it's evil we have to stop it." I grabbed the D-Gadget and locked the door. "I just hope no one comes to my door." Herpetomon had opened the window and was ready to jump. I went to the window, Herpetomon held me around the waist, we jumped, and landed roughly on the ground.

"OK now bring me there" I said. "Jump us over there" Herpetomon was still staring in the direction of the Digimon. Without turning he said gruffly "I can't carry you there, you'll have to keep up."

"Oh, no problem" I said as I began stretching. I'm no athlete, but I'm built for speed. "Now Let's go!" I yelled. We broke into a sprint. Herpetomon and I both ran with long leaping strides. We ran down Merchant Street heading towards an old abandoned factory in town. I wasn't too worried about Herpetomon being seen because he was running so fast and darkness set in early because of the coming winter.

"It's going to appear around here somewhere." Herpetomon said. We were in the large yard in front of the factory. Sure enough, after he said that the familiar fog shot up from the ground and I took a few steps closer to Herpetomon. Then from deep in the fog I heard a sneering chuckle. Soon after a form was rapidly approaching from inside the fog. I checked the D-Gadget just as the Digimon became visible. He was a small pinkish colored Digimon with long ears that were almost wing-like. The most disturbing feature of this Digimon was his eyes he had squinty cruel looking eyes.

"Hey Herpetomon, that's Gazimon. Watch out this guy's trouble. He's a virus rookie with a punky attitude. Careful of his Electric Stun attack."

"Out of my way!" The Gazimon yelled as he approached Herpetomon.

"Sorry, Punk" Herpetomon said smoothly as he dodged a swing bye Gazimon. He was on the defensive as the Gazimon ferociously swung and slashed at Herpetomon. Then Herpetomon turned the table, he grabbed the Gazimon's arm and swung him right into the factory wall.

"Alright nice move" I called to him. He didn't reply, he was "In-the-zone"

Herpetomon was approaching the cloud of dust where he tossed Gazimon. Then I heard Gazimon call his attack from inside the cloud "Electric Stun Blast." Suddenly a large sizzling ball of electric energy was crackling towards Herpetomon. "Herpetomon look out!" I yelled, but he had probably planned out his next move already. Sure enough when the sphere was just a few feet in front of him he performed another one of those great jumps over towards Gazimon. "Lizard Claw" Herpetomon called out as he plummeted towards Gazimon. I would finally get to see his attack. As Herpetomon fell his hands were engulfed in a strange green energy. "Oh No" the Gazimon cried as Herpetomon's claws combined with the green energy slashed him through. The Digimon didn't necessarily bleed, but he disappeared into a cloud of red particles. Then as the red particles were floating around the air Herpetomon began to absorb this cloud of what I understood to be loose data. Since Digimon are all made up of Data then when one Digimon defeats another he can choose to absorb his opponents data, and if he chooses not to I guess it goes back to the Digital World. When Herpetomon was through absorbing the data he looked at me and his eyes were literally glowing green. Slowly though his eyes began to go back to brown.

"Herpetomon we'd better get out of here before this Digital field disappears." I told him.

"Right, let's go" he said. We began running back home.

"Herpetomon, when we get to the house you can jump into my room again and I'll sneak into the house." I instructed. We reached the house fairly quickly and he did as I was told and bound into my window. I had a harder job though I decided to sneak in the side door. I found, to my joy, that the kitchen was empty so I slipped into the kitchen, past the den and into my room.

"Nice work out there." I said, "Our first fight."

"No problem, it was too easy." He seemed totally different from that "Alert-mode" he was in before. I'm guessing that's just a Digimon's natural ability to detect when other Digimon are around, I decided not to pester him about it. It was probably common for him.

"That Digimon was looking for a Tamer wasn't he?" I asked

"It would appear that way" He said "Not all Digimon will be bad like that one though"

"Hmm. Maybe we could check out the Digimon before we just run in like that, see if he's evil or what." I was worried that we might unrightfully injure some well meaning Digimon. I looked over to Herpetomon who was lying on the floor and he was already asleep.

"Good idea" I said to myself. As I was getting ready for bed I realized that I hadn't seen Herpetomon on the Digimon analyzer yet. After all I didn't know everything about him. I took out the D-Gadget and turned to the Analyzer Channel and there was Herpetomon. "Let's see Rookie, Reptile type, I know all this, what about his attribute" I looked up and down the display and to my confusion found that Herpetomon was a Virus type. This was confusing because Virus types are mainly the evil Digimon, but I couldn't find much evil in Herpetomon's character. I figured "Just because he's a virus doesn't mean anything." So I shrugged it off and went to bed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 3: The Legendary Swordsmon**

It's Sunday and Mom and Dave are going out to my Uncle's house for the day. It's the perfect time to go out on patrol with Herpetomon. Once again I woke up around 6:oo, but today Herpetomon was already up. He was just standing and looking out the partially drawn window. He had an intense and deep expression on his face.

"Good morning… uh, What are you doing?" I asked.

He turned and said, "I have a good feeling about today. I don't know why, but today is going to be good."

"Oh yeah" I said "I have a good feeling about today too, my parents are leaving." I loved being alone, but hanging out with Herpetomon wasn't so bad either. "Maybe we could go out on patrol later, see if we can't find a fight somewhere."

"Yeah the fight yesterday was quite…Exhilarating." He said, looking proud at his vocabulary that he's obviously been working on. He just stood there smiling.

"Wow that's some pretty fancy terminology." I said laughing at him, but he didn't care. "Just relax for a while my parents will leave soon. After that we can do pretty much anything we want" I got up and put on some random cloths. Herpetomon adjusted his sash and cleaned his claws while we waited. Soon after I heard the cars start up and pull away.

"Okay now let's get something to eat then we can go out on patrol." I told him. He agreed and we went out to the kitchen. I quickly drew the shades and tended to the food, I made us waffles again because they're easy and fast. We ate quickly and got prepared to go out since it was pretty cold.

"Now, listen. When we go out there either we could dress you up like a human or you could jump along the rooftops following me around. Which do you prefer?"

Herpetomon replied, "Well looking at this from a battling stand point I think it would be better for me to follow you around along the roof tops."

"Okay then, just be very careful not to get caught." I instructed. I could see we were both ready to go so I went outside with Herpetomon.

"I'll be keeping an eye on you" he said before he leapt onto the roof of the next house. I just began walking along the sidewalk in the direction of Town Square. I checked my pocket and made sure the D-Gadget was on the View channel just in case we got split up some how. As I walked past all the small stores and shops my mind wondered again to the purpose of Herpetomon being in this world. I thought maybe he's here or because he was strong enough to reach the Real World, or maybe he _was _brought here by some mysterious force like I originally thought. I stopped into the Tedeschi's to get a Slush like I usually would. This walk continued for few hours without any turnout. I was beginning to head home; I pulled out the D-Gadget to tell Herpetomon.

"It's been a while, so I'm heading home." I told him. I could see in the D-Gadget that he was on the roof of a house a few doors back.

"Alright, I'm right behind you." I heard his voice say through the D-Gadget. I began to walk home, feeling a little disappointed at not having found a fight all day. Then at about 10:00 I felt a vibration in my pocket. The D-Gadget was rumbling, so I pulled it out.

"Herpetomon, you getting this?" I asked "A Digimon's coming through."

"Rrahh, Yeah, Hurry up and follow me." Herpetomon growled to me. He was obviously in that Alert-mode again. I began to follow him, but it was hard because I was constantly looking from him on the rooftops to checking the ground. He led me past the house, past the park, and down a street I'd never been down before. Herpetomon stopped in front of a dead end street and jumped down to the street.

"It's down there" He pointed down the street. It was very cloudy already and the shadows cast by the trees overhead only made things harder to see. We ran down the street and when we reached the end of the street the Digital field appeared just as planned. Herpetomon's glowing green eyes cut through the fog. I called out to him "Remember Herpetomon if he doesn't attack you don't attack him, Got it?"

"Yeah" He began to calm down a little bit. "I got it." I pulled out the D-Gadget to find the information on the Digimon. As the display popped up I thought "No Way".

"OK Herpetomon, this is Meramon, I've seen him before, Champion level Fire type. Be very careful, he _is_ a champion." Deep in the field I could see the red-hot glow of Meramon's flaming flesh.

"Fireball" Meramon's call echoed down the dead end Street. He shot out several balls of flame flying towards us.

"Ok you can fight him now." I told Herpetomon jokingly.

"Good" He replied as he ran to Meramon for a strong attack. He jumped at him and was going for a punch, but Meramon blocked his attack, unfazed. Herpetomon was thrown off from the sudden impact. Once again Meramon called his attack "Fireball!" Herpetomon was unable to dodge the attack.

"Oh No, Herpetomon"

"Ahhgh" He groaned when he was hit and flung back towards me. He hit the ground in front of me with a thud. I ran to help him. I picked him up, but his eyes were closed. Then out of nowhere he opened his eyes, which were now flaring green light and ran back into the fray.

"Ahaha, back for more" Meramon taunted.

"Rraagh" Herpetomon cried. He sprang in the air and appeared to be going for the…"Lizard Claw!" He was careening towards Meramon and made a swipe with his claws. From what I could see Meramon was relatively unfazed, but Herpetomon's attack did make a small gash in Meramon's arm. I thought we had an advantage, but soon after Herpetomon's attack Meramon's wound was absorbed into his flame. "What can we do?" I thought, "Nothing's really affecting him." Meramon took a swing at Herpetomon who was swiftly circling around him. He hit Herpetomon pretty hard; he was knocked off to the side of the road, barely conscious. Meramon approached him, but Herpetomon got up and tried to swing at him again. Meramon dodged and made a great punch, Herpetomon was forced all the way over to me. We were in trouble.

"Herpetomon are you OK?" I picked his head up in my lap. Even in his condition he fought to get up and defend us. He got into a clumsy stance.

"I'm fine." Although could see that he wasn't. Meramon approached and prepared for another attack. "Fire…bahh" A red blur dashed by and seemed to attack Meramon. Meramon collapsed, he had a big gaping gash in his chest that looked like it was caused by a sword. "Wha, Who is that?" Herpetomon and I said in concert. The figure dashed by him again and destroyed him with another crushing blow. The Digimon, still shrouded by the field, was absorbing the data.

"Wait, that fighting style seemed very familiar." Herpetomon said as he was coming out of his alert-mode.

"What you know him?" I asked. He began pondering very intently.

"I'm not sure." He responded.

"Well let's follow him to see if he has a tamer, maybe he could give us some answers." I said, but Herpetomon didn't hear "Hello Herpetomon?"

"Huh, Oh yeah let's go" The Digimon had already begun to retreat, so we followed. A little ahead of the Digimon I saw a shadowed figure that was obviously his tamer.

"So who is this guy?" I asked Herpetomon as we were closing on the pair.

"If it is who I think it is, he's a fancy pants 'Legendary Hero' in the Digital World" Herpetomon explained.

"Well what's so bad about that?" I asked

"Not much, but he just bugs me is all." Herpetomon said.

"Well nonetheless we could use some help since we're both new to this partner thing." I told him as I began surveying our surroundings. "How about we end this chase, I need you to jump and kick off of that building there, that should put you directly in front of them, let me do the talking."

"No problem." He said, and sprang into action. My plan worked perfectly he ricocheted off the building and landed in front of the two. We were in a part of town I'd never seen before. Herpetomon said "Hold on you two." Then I approached from behind them.

"Hey you, you guys are partners right?" I called out. When I called to them the tamer took off his hood and said in a familiar voice, "Brendan!" I knew this to be the voice of my friend Nick. Sure enough he ran over to me and we said hi. He was his usual self; he's Caucasian, short, but compact and muscular.

"I don't believe it _you're_ a tamer." I said while our Digimon returned to our sides.

"Yep, I'm an awesome tamer." Said Nick "Who is your Digimon?"

"Oh duh, introductions." I said "Herpetomon, this is my friend Nick, Nick this is my Digimon, Herpetomon."

"Helloooooo Herpetomon" Said Nick. "Hi" Herpetomon returned harshly, so I nudged him and gave him a look. I don't know what was causing the unnecessary hostility, but then I remembered Herpetomon hadn't really met any other humans at that point. He'd get used to it.

"Now who's this?" I asked gesturing to Nick's fierce-looking Digimon. "Well this is…" Nick began to say until Herpetomon cut him off "That is Fatomon 'The Legendary Swordsmon' He's a famous sword wielding Digimon." Herpetomon said with a groan. And he did indeed have a sword in a sheath around his waist. Fatomon is roughly Nick's height, about 5'9". His skin had a deep red tone to it and judging from his facial features I'd imagine that he's a Dragon type. His short dragonic maw jutted out of his helmet that had a grill covering his eyes. Aside from the standard-jointed legs he looked a little bit like Herpetomon, but Fatomon was a little more built. His face has a shorter and rougher looking muzzle than Herpetomon's. Fatomon wore armor all over, all of it tinted red. I admit he's pretty cool looking, but he's obviously not my favorite Digimon out there.

"Yes, I am Fatomon, protector of the good" Fatomon said gallantly

"Right, now that that's over with why don't we get out of the middle of this street. We can go back to my house, the folks are out."

"Oh, sweet" Nick said. We both knew where my house was, so we began to head back.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 4: Him and his**

(Now I'm going to try something new with the story. It's called a character shift. This means until the end of the outlined section the story will be in the point of the view of that character, try to understand. I'll be using it in this case for a telling of a flashback, but I may also use it to show what characters separate from Brendan are doing.)

Character Shift: **Nick** -6 Days earlier, Monday the 6th November-

Yes! School's finally out! It's been a pretty long week. I made bunch of ? in shop and the academics were pretty tough. I came to my locker, grabbed the books I'd need and left. I couldn't wait to go home, have a nice long weekend. I crossed the large yard in front of the school and heading to the bus, hopefully it was all warmed up and ready to go. I was almost at the bus when I heard some noise coming from the side of the school. I heard some angry voices yelling and then a quivering unsteady voice. I assumed it was someone being bullied. I wouldn't usually pay a second mind, but at the moment I felt the need to go help whoever was in trouble. It's not like I was looking for glory or anything I just felt like I should help whoever it was out. I approached with a mind full of possibilities. How would I do it? I could bull rush them and scare them off, I could challenge them or something. I looked around the corner where the noise was coming from. There were two of them, pretty big guys, juniors. They were pinning a smaller weak looking boy who's a freshman I think.

"Mike, I told you I wanted that money by today." The larger of the two shouted to the freshman.

"Sorry, I couldn't get it, I..I.." the Freshman stuttered.

"You know what this means don't you?" The smaller of the bullies grabbed the freshman and kneed him in the chest. The poor freshman. The bullies continued to attack the freshman till I couldn't stand it anymore. I took a step out from the corner.

"Okay that's enough, get out of my sight." I told them. My heart was pounding, but somehow I knew I would see this through.

"What's with you Wilkie (Nick's Nickname)? You shouldn't put your nose where it doesn't belong!" The larger one said as he began rushing at me. I thought fast, once he was in range I caught him in the face with a right jab. Just like I thought, no experience on that one. He went down the first hit. Naturally his fool friend followed.

"Raaaah" The punk called as he ran at me. He tried a right hook and I ducked under it. He left his chest completely unguarded so I took advantage with a swift rising fist. He fell all over his friends, they both groaned from the pain. I took this period to help the freshman who was watching, mouth agape. I walked over to help him out.

"So you OK?" I asked

"Yeah, thanks, those guys have been pestering me a lot lately." He replied

"Oh yeah." I said with a sneer "If anyone messes with you you should just ignore them, half the time they aren't worth the trouble"

"Wow, thanks, I wish I had your strength." He said as he ran off. "Strength?" I thought. I didn't think I was so strong. I headed back to the busses, even thought they were probably gone by now. As I turned the corner again, I noticed that the busses were in fact gone. I began walking home since I didn't live _too_ far away.  
I was walking down the familiar streets. The question of what the freshman said about strength still had me wondering. It was a truly mellow pre-winter afternoon the sky was a dark gray color. Everything around me was in deep shade from the dark tone of the sky itself. I came to a relatively empty street when I heard a rustling in the bushes to my left. Someone was coming out. I backed a step to see a shadowy red figure emerge from the brush. He, it, looked kind of like a dragon warrior or something.

"Uh, Hi" I said in a puzzled voice.

"Hello, You are Nick correct?" The character said.

"uhh, Yeah" I replied.

"I saw what you did back there, saving that boy. That was very righteous of you. I am Fatomon."

"Thanks, I don't know what came over me back there, but it felt like the right thing to do. So you're a Digimon right?"

"Yes, and I'm looking for a partner. You seem pretty strong and just, would you please be my tamer?"

"Oh yeah, 'Tamers', Brendan was saying something about that last time I saw him." I said. "Yeah, why not? I'll be the best tamer there is." Fatomon lit up when I said this.

"Let's shake on it." He said as he put out his hand, he wore gauntlets. "Partners"

I grabbed and shook his hand, looked him in the face and said "Partners" With that there was a bright light that flashed in front of us. We both stood gawking at the light. I naturally reached out and touched it. When I touched it the light formed a small device. It fit in my hand and it was tinted red. I guess it was one of those Digivices.

"Well, that was cool, let's go back to my house" I told him.

"Lead on, tamer. He said so I led him home.

Return Shift: **Brendan**** -**Present, Sunday the 12th of November-

"Oh so that's how you guys met" I said. We were all sitting around my den listening to Nicks story. Herpetomon and I were on the couch Fatomon was on the Lazy boy, and Nick was pacing the floor.

"So when did you guys meet?" Nick asked Herpetomon and I

"Two days ago" we said in tandem "And we've already been in two fights" I explained.

"Sweet" Nick said. We just sat there for about 2 hours, discussing the adventures we'd already had. It was about 2 in the afternoon, I figured mom would be back at around 5 so I decided to treat the guys to lunch. I decided to make, you guessed it, more waffles. As I expected they were quite a hit. Apparently all Digimon are big eaters, Fatomon and Herpetomon had an eating contest. It was close, but eventually Fatomon won by a half a waffle. They were both a total mess, syrup and whipped cream all over their faces. We all began cracking up at how ridiculous they looked.

"You've got something right here." I said to Herpetomon pointing to my chin. This was preposterous because his whole face was covered with mess. Another laughing fit ensued. It was a great afternoon filled with joking and discussing. It felt good to have some friends in this Digital warfare. It was 4 o'clock, we were all pretty tired from the events of the day. Herpetomon was asleep and Fatomon was well on his way. I was lying half-asleep on the couch. Then it occurred to me to ask Nick about why he thinks the Digimon are here.

"Hey Nick" I mumbled to him, and he turned his head. "Did you ever wonder why these Digimon are here?" I asked "I mean aside from looking for a tamer."

"Nah, not really. Why does it matter? They're here now." He replied

"I don't know, it's just that in the show the Digimon partnerships are usually made for a reason, a reason that usually results in saving the world. So I was just wondering if we share that destiny."I explained.

"I think we should just wait and see" Nick said.

"Yeah, I guess, but it's really been troubling me lately, I have a bad feeling about all this, like our fight is going to culminate into something much larger than we know." I told him. "Mmm" he responded. I found that to be an odd response, but he had a point, I'd probably find the answer at some point. We sat for a while, watching TV and just hanging out. Then I heard mom pull up in the driveway.

"Oh crap you guys have to go." I told then quickly "Come on you can leave out my window." They got up and sluggishly walked over to my window. "You guys can walk home right? You only live a town away."

"Yeah, we'll be fine." They said.

"OK sounds good, if you ever need our help call my cell, and vice versa." I said.

"OK, see ya'." Nick said as Fatomon grabbed him and they leapt from my window. I watched them begin their run home. I went back into the den and woke up Herpetomon who had totally passed out.

"Hey, come on, my mom's home you can sleep in my room." I instructed. He slowly opened his eyes, got up, and managed to drag himself into my room. I shut the door behind him just as mom came in.

"Oh, Hi" I said. "How was Uncle Steve's"

"It was great, he made warm cider, oh and the girls said hi." She responded. The girls she spoke of are my two younger cousins Emily and Julia. "What did you do all day" she asked when she saw me slinking towards my room

"Uh, nuthin', you know." I said quickly. This wasn't a suspicious response since that was how I answered almost all of her questions. She gave me that typical look that says, "ugh, whatever." I went into my room and locked the door. I turned around to find Herpetomon sleeping on my bed. I would have woken him up, but he needed rest after the beating he took earlier. I had homework to finish anyway, so I sat and began diligently completing the various sheets and questions. Including the projects I had to work on I was completed at around 9:30. Normally I wouldn't go to bed 'till around 10:00, but I was pretty tired too. I went to brush and get ready for bed. When I came back to my room Herpetomon had moved over to the throw rug on the floor.

"Oh, thanks." I said, but he pretended to be back asleep already. It was just now that I realized I'd forgotten something crucial. "Oh Crap, Herpetomon get up!" I woke him up and he looked at me confusedly.

"What, what's going on?" He asked.

"I forgot to tell you what to do tomorrow, I'll have school" I told him "OK, so I'll be at school tomorrow from about 7 to 3p.m. I don't really mind what you do all day, but I have a few rules. OK so, you can go outside and jump along rooftops, as long as you are not seen. Or you could hang around here, just don't destroy the house. And if you go out and you sense a Digimon coming through, try to control yourself. I would encourage you to check out the situation, if it's a good or a bad Digimon, but if it is bad please don't fight it alone. I know how you get when there's an evil Digimon around."

"OK, I understand." he said in a serious tone. I could tell he was sincere.

"OK, good, now get some rest, you got pretty beat up today." I said

"Great, thanks" He said "But don't worry about it, Digimon heal really fast." When he said this I realized that a lot of his bruises and burns had gotten a lot better.

"Oh yeah, I forgot, that's cool. Well, goodnight."

"Yep, goodnight."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 5: Early Risers**

"Brendan, get up!" Herpetomon said, shaking me awake. I sat up quickly, put on my glasses and saw that not only was it 3 in the morning, but Herpetomon was in alert mode and the D-Gadget was rumbling.

"Oh great, I don't believe this" I got up and put on some cloths. Herpetomon was staring at the wall, probably seeing through it to where the Digimon would bio-emerge. "Alright, let's go." I said opening the window. As before Herpetomon grabbed me and we jumped out the window. It was a freezing cold November night, or rather, morning. Herpetomon began running towards the merge point as I groggily followed.

"Be especially careful in this fight there'll be no back-up this time. We're the only ones crazy enough to be out at this time in the morning." I told him. He managed a chuckle through his generally serious and focused alert-mode demeanor. We were being led down a street that led to the ever-populated Rt. 18. We'd have to be careful since the Rt. 18 area is always bustling. I hope Herpetomon is rested enough because he'll need it. We soon reached the digital field and luckily it wasn't in the most populated area of Rt. 18. The field soon engulfed us and we were thrust into the familiar feeling of waiting for the unknown. I whipped out the D-Gadget while Herpetomon looked around for the emergence point. Then the display popped up. "Mushroomon, small, annoying, and fungal. Their attack is poison mushroom." I explained. "Don't worry about it, he's a rookie. You should be able to handle him." The bio-emerge started, only there were two spaces where Digimon were emerging. I was standing behind Herpetomon and the two Digimon emerged one next to the other in from of him. They appeared and they were in fact mushrooms.

"You are most unlucky," one of the mushroomon said. "Yes, you shouldn't have come, resistance is useless." Sneered the other.

"Is that so?" Said Herpetomon "Well, I think I'll take my chances" he said running up to them. They split and ran around him. "Poison Mushroom!" They both called their attacks. Herpetomon anticipated this and jumped out of the way of their attack. He landed quickly after their mushrooms flew past each other. Herpetomon lunged towards one of the mushroomon "Lizard Claw" He called. He hit the Digimon spot on and it was knocked back to the wall of a house nearby. Then his 'brother' dashed in front of him and defended him. "Poison mushroom!" He threw a small purple mushroom at Herpetomon. Unfortunately it hit him.

"Herpetomon, are you alright, what did that attack do?" I called to him.

"Ragh, I can't move, paralyzed." Herpetomon said, trying to move his arm. This is bad. The two mushroomon went back into their circling strategy again. Herpetomon was totally immobilized, and I felt utterly useless. It's times like these where I wished I could rush in and save him, but I couldn't risk that or we'd both die. I had to do something. The mushroomon both pounced on Herpetomon and began berating him. There had to be something I could do. I looked at the D-Gadget and began flipping through the channels. I figured the blank channel would grant some kind of hidden power, but alas, nothing happened. Herpetomon was in trouble he had been beaten to the ground.

"Herpetomon, I'm sorry, I wish I could help you, but there's nothing I can do." I called to him.

"Brendan, just trust in your relationship with me, feel the power inside of you, after all… you make me stronger." Herpetomon said meekly. I didn't understand what he meant, and I couldn't do anything.

"Herpetomon! I'm sorry! There's nothing I can do." I called. Suddenly from the D-Gadget I heard a voice say, "Flare activated" With that a brilliant light engulfed Herpetomon. He was able to stand up and he had soon come out of the paralysis. Then in a sudden burst he threw the mushroomon off him. They each went flying in opposite directions. Herpetomon stood up straight, and the brilliant light faded.

"Whoa, I don't know what that was, but I must say it was rather leet." I said with a laugh.

"How is that possible, how did he come out of the paralysis?" the mushroomon said.

"The power of my tamer set me free." Herpetomon said "Allow me to show you what else this power can do", he jumped at the smaller mushroomon, "Lizard claw!" This time the miasma around his claws completely annihilated one of the mushroomon. "Now it's your turn." Herpetomon said, turning to the other mushroomon. The other mushroomon ran, as to be expected. Herpetomon performed another jump, "Lizard Claw!" Like with the last one the mushroomon was completely destroyed. Herpetomon just stood there holding up his hand, which was still glowing green, then he turned and looked at me as his eyes were going back to brown.

"Oh my god, you are so cool!" I told him.

"You know it" Herpetomon replied. It was at this point that I remembered I still have school later. So we quickly ran home. Herpetomon jumped up through the window and I used the key under the doormat. I quickly got into bed because I needed the sleep now more than ever. Before I went to sleep I turned to Herpetomon and said "We both pretty much understand what that power was right?"

"Yeah, let's just leave the 'why' for later, again." He responded. It was mutually understood that this "Flare" is basically a short energy burst that can be used when the Tamer or Digimon is in dire straits. Like a Digivolving, but it Flare only lasts for a little while.

After a while I was fast asleep.

It's around 2pm on Monday. It's been a long day, everything seems so boring without Herpetomon around. I sat around in school tapping my fingers, itching to get home and see Herpetomon. I brought the D-Gadget to school with me, I kept it in my locker, but hopefully I wouldn't need it. I wonder what Herpetomon did on his day alone. I felt kind of lame leaving him alone, but there's really no way around it. Plus if he is like me then he enjoys he's peace and quiet.

Finally at 2:40 school ended. I went out to the bus where Anissa and the others were waiting. We went through the standard random and goofy afternoon conversations. The bus left at 3:00 and I was on my way home. We hit some traffic but I eventually got home at 3:30. I took a taxi so I wouldn't have to worry about other people coming and finding Herpetomon. Speaking of whom, when I entered the house I found him sitting in my room, drawing.

"Hey, how's it going" he said. Looking up from whatever he was drawing.

"My day was good. What did you do all day?" I asked, heading over to the bed.

"I slept almost all morning, then I watched TV for a while and than about an hour ago I decided to draw something." He said. I looked over his shoulder to see what he was drawing.

"And what did you draw." I asked because I couldn't make it out.

"I was drawing what I figure my higher forms will be. It's really nothing." Herpetomon said modestly. I could see that half of the sketches were huge behemoths with big gaudy horns and such.

"Wow, delusions of grandeur much." I said, Herpetomon began laughing.

"Yeah, well I'm no artist. You're the creator, why don't you draw some ideas?" Herpetomon suggested.

"Maybe later. I have tons of work to do." With that I set my things down and began down my homework. Herpetomon continued with his sketches while I did my homework. Things went on like this 'till mom came home and made dinner at 6:00. We had meatloaf. I ate plenty then when the parents left I brought some in to Herpetomon. I finished my homework in the afternoon and then we went to bed at 10:00. It was a pretty average day and I was glad I had a system we could go by.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 6: All in the Family **

Character Shift: **Kayla** -Wednesday Nov. 14-

"OK, bye Chel' see you tomorrow" I called to my friend Chelsea as we split at a fork in the road. I was heading home after a loooong and borrring day of school. I have a crap-load of homework to do too. I was passing North school, where Brendan and Nick used to go. "I haven't seen B (Brendan's nickname) in a while actually." I said to myself. "It's totally freezing out, I bet it'll start to snow soon." I continued to walk down past North school and down to my street. Then off in the distance to my left I saw a big poof of smoke or gas. I didn't think about it really I just thought that it was from a truck or something. I kept walking, I was nearly home. As I was walking I remembered I forgot my purse at school! Crap! Of all the things how could I forget that? I turned around and began jogging back to school, I had to hurry because it felt like it was getting colder and colder out. I got back to school fine and retrieved my purse. As I left I saw a few more of my friends just hanging around. I gave them a quick wave and hurried on. It had gotten a little darker on the trip back home and the streetlights had turned on. It took out my cell to check the time, wow, 6:00 and it's already dark out. Stupid Winter. Then when I reached North school again I saw someone that looked like a little kid walking around on the sidewalk. I ran up to him or her.

"Hey, what are you doing out here alone, did you get lost?" I asked the person. The person stood still with his back towards me, it was so dark I could barely make it out. Then it turned around.

"Hey, are you going to be my tamer?" It said. When it turned around I found to my horror that it had yellow eyes that cut through the darkness. Upon further inspection I found that it wasn't human at all, it looked like it was made out of rocks.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, What the hell are you?" I asked backing up several feet. It approached a few steps.

"Me, I'm Gotsumon, Will you pleeeeease be my tamer?" The thing said approaching a few more steps.

"What, no, get away from me!" I yelled running away from the rocky creature. I headed home, naturally, now that I had everything I needed. When I finally reached home I checked behind me to make sure the thing hadn't followed me. The coast was clear. I ran inside and locked the door. I leaned against the wall.

"God, what the fuck was that thing." I said. Mom wouldn't be home until at least 9 so I went to my room and began working on my homework. I was still pretty scared about what happened before. Occasionally I checked out my window to see if that thing had found me again. What did he ask me about? Being his "tamer"? Then I heard the phone ring in the kitchen. I ran in and picked it up.

"Hello" the person said, it was mom. I knew what this cal meant right when I picked it up.

"Yeah hi" I said.

"Hey K (Kayla's nickname) I have to stay late tonight do you think you can make some dinner for yourself?" she asked

"Again? Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Ok, thanks hun' I'll see you in the morning, love you."

"Love you too." I said, ending the conversation. This kind of thing was common and I didn't really mind. I hung up and began making some tuna for a sandwich. After about 10 minutes my sandwich was done. I ate it quickly, cleaned up, and finished my homework. It was already 10:00. I didn't really feel tired so I watched TV until 11 then went to bed.

I woke up at 6 and went through the typical morning ritual. I decided to have waffles for breakfast. I wish I could've had some of B's waffles, his waffles are the best, and they're so warm and perfect-licious. I didn't need the bus since I live so close to school so I said bye to mom and began heading to school. I kept a sharp eye out for that creepy rock monster. There was no sight of him. I met up with Chelsea again at the fork in the road. We went on our way to school.

School was so boring, especially Computer tech class. We learned some junk about data or whatever. I had yet more homework to do. I walked home nervously, expecting that monster to find me again. What was his problem anyway? I decided to take a different way home this time to see if it was any faster. It was a bit of a side street, there were a few dingy looking houses along the wide street. I walked cautiously down the street. Then out of nowhere there was another explosion of that weird gas. Right down the street from me. I just stood there as the eerie fog enveloped me. Then from inside the fog I heard some noise, like a deep, rumbling growl. Then a huge stomp, something big was coming.

"Oh no, is that another one of those monsters." I said under my breath as I ran behind a car. I peaked out around the car and looked out to see a huge monster emerging from the fog. It was a gigantic blue dinosaur looking thing, on it's arms were two different skulls. One looked like a dinosaur skull and the other looked like a giant alligator head. It came crashing out into the middle of the street.

"Rrrrrrrroar" It cried as it came tearing down the street towards me

"Oh, what the hell is with all of these monsters all of a sudden" I said hiding behind the car. The monster began rampaging down the street. It stuck one of it's massive arms into a house nearby. I could hear the screams of people who were on the other side of the fog as they ran away.

"Oh no, those poor people." I said. I would have run away, but I felt compelled to stay and see this through. Then the huge beast saw me sticking my head out.

"You!" He said in a low voice. He turned and prepared for a swing at me. I ducked down just in time. The giant alligator arm struck the car and I looked up to see car flip right over my head. The car landed with a crash a few feet away. I got up and began to run away, but the monster was too quick. He struck the ground with a strong stomp that actually cracked the ground underneath me. I stumbled and fell onto the hard ground. Oh no, is this it? The beast prepared for another strong swing. He thrust down his skull arm.

"Aaaaah" I ducked down, but then the small rock creature from before jumped in front of the blow. He braced the attack, he was surprisingly strong given his size. He threw the monsters arm off to the side and ran in for an attack. He jumped up on his arm, jumped again to his other arm, then jumped up and hit him right in the face. Again, he's small, but he is made of rock. The larger monster was knocked down, but he began to get up quickly. The smaller monster, this "Gotsumon" landed in front of me and dug his hands into the ground. He began lifting up a large piece of earth from when the giant monster stomped the ground. He picked up a huge boulder and threw it at the beast. The boulder landed on the beast when he was trying to get up and it just disappeared into a burst of red stuff. Then Gotsumon stood there for a moment absorbing the red particles floating through the air. The small rock creature then turned to me and looked so happy. He ran over to me again. I began to back away, but I realized why would he have saved me if he wanted to hurt me. He hobbled up to me and said, "Hello again. That guy almost got you"

"Yeah, I guess" I was very confused at what I just saw. "So what are you anyway? Are you the same as that huge thing."

"I'm a Digimon, Gotsumon and that big guy was Deltamon, so I guess we are kinda the same." The little guy said.

"So why did you save me, I don't know you, do you want something." I asked searching through my purse for something to give him. He looked up at me hopefully and said, "Could you be my tamer now?"

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhh"…


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 7: Unbelief **

Return Shift: **Brendan**** -**Present, Thursday the 15th of November-

Things had been going pretty good, Herpetomon and I kept going by the system. Over Tuesday and Wednesday we didn't run into any fights or anything. During the days Herpetomon usually just hung out drawing, watching TV, or eating.

It was a cold and damp Thursday. I was just getting out of school and I was dreading the bus ride because it would be so cold and wet. I ran through the rainy mess outside to the bus. It was the usual bus ride, with the typical nonsensical babbling. At one point I turned my back to the others to check on Herpetomon with the D-Gadget. In the D-Gadget I could see one of Herpetomon's drawings apparently he was drawing.

"Hey Herpetomon!" I said sharply into the Digivice.

"Waaaah, what, what's going on?" Herpetomon said.

"he he he, Nothing, I'm on my way home." I said

"Oh, OK, well see you then, geezum" He sighed.

Soon enough I was home, Nana dropped me off, but couldn't stay.

"Herpetomon, I'm home." I called to him. I could hear him coming out of my room.

"Yeah, I noticed." He said, coming out of the den. He looked very spent. I assumed he had been drawing all day and might've had a nap too. As I walked past him to my room I said "So what did you do all day?"

"Well I drew for the whole morning, then I took a nap." Ha, I was right.

"Let me see what you drew, I don't have much homework so I can work on some of your upper forms." I told him.

"Oh cool, here come see." He brought the sketchbook over to me. I looked over them and Herpetomon anxiously waiting for my response. This time the drawings were all of very stylish and sleek looking Digimon.

"Wow, these are a lot better, I didn't mean for you to be huge and muscular. I like you svelte and suave." I explained. "That's how it always used to be with Nick and I. He always chose substance over style and I always preferred style over substance. I guess that explains how he ended up with a tank like Fatomon."

"Pfft, Fatomon, I can't stand him, He's such a goody-goody" Herpetomon said.

"I don't understand why you hate him so much, I mean he did save our lives." I told him.

"Yeah, don't remind me, that just shows how weak I am compared to him. You're probably ashamed of me." Herpetomon said, turning away, I think he was crying. I never knew this was such a touchy issue with Digimon. I moved next him. I would try to help him out of it, but for some reason things are always awkward when I try to break someone off of crying.

"Hey, hey, you are not weak." I told him while I thought up some kind of saying, like I usually would, to help him out. "In fact it's said that only the strongest people cry." He looked up and tried to regain composure.

"Really?" He said

"Yeah."

"Really, Really."

"uuh Yeah." He was obviously feeling better

"Really, Really, Rea…"

"Yes Really!" I cut in.

"Thanks B, I just needed to know that you really do like me." Herpetomon said

"Oh come on, you're the man." I said as I went into complicated speech to get a laugh out of him. This was a way of speaking where one overcomplicates their language in an often-incorrect way. "In fact, one might go so far as to say that you are the 'Mon'." Sure enough the retardedness of the statement made him laugh. I always loved cheering people up, seeing people laugh.

Once that episode was over I sat down to my work while Herpetomon watched over my shoulder from my bed. I was working out Herpetomon's champion form first. Out in the kitchen I could hear mom coming home, but I just ignored it.

"So Herpetomon, do you have any requests?" I asked him

"Not really, I trust you to make me just right." Herpetomon said.

"Okay, so maybe you shouldn't see it, it'll be a surprise for you." I said turning the sketchbook away from him. Herpetomon just watched TV while I continued the drawing. (No you, the reader can't see it yet either.) I continued working on it until 5:30. It came out pretty well, and I folded it up and kept the drawing with me.

"All done, no peaking, seriously, it'll be a surprise, especially for you." I told him.

"OK, fine, I'm sure it'll be awesome." Herpetomon said.

Then the phone rang, Mom was busy in the other room so I picked it up.

"Hello?" I said into the phone

"Hey, B it's me." It was my cousin Kayla.

"I'm coming over." She said, I loved this about Kayla, she never really asked if she could come over she would just tell me.

"OK, I guess your coming over." I said awkwardly.

"Good, I'll be over in a few minutes." She only lived a town away, which was pretty convenient.

I told Herpetomon about her. "Herpetomon, my cousin's coming over soon, I want you to stay in here while she's here. Maybe at some point you can meet her, but I don't think the rest of the family's ready for you yet."

"Yeah, I know the drill." Herpetomon said. Soon afterward Kayla's mom pulled up in the driveway and dropped her off. As she came around I could she was wearing a big backpack that was chock full of something. I opened the door for her and she stepped in from the rain. She was a pretty girl, she had beautiful curly hair and brilliant blue eyes. She'd kill me for saying this, but she's also not very tall, she hates this because my household family is at least 5'9". She was probably 5'7".

"Hello" she said coming over and giving me a big hug, like usual. I noticed she looked really nervous, despite her often-cheery disposition.

"Hey." I said, "So what's going on?"

"Uh, I need your help with a project for school." She said, "Here, we'll do it in your den." She pulled me in and shut the door. She looked around erratically, and shut all of the shades. While she did all this I just sat there, a little flustered by her strange behavior.

"Is their something wrong?" I asked her once she finally sat down with her bag.

"Hey B, you're into that Digimon stuff right?" She asked. I nodded yes, I thought everyone knew that. "Well, don't freak out, but look at this." She said as she opened her bag. I walked over and stood over it when all of a sudden a small rock Digimon came out. "Hello" it said in a happy voice. I knew this to be Gotsumon.

"What you caught a Digimon!" I asked frantically

"I don't know. I just found this little guy on the street, then he saved me from some big huge monster. He keeps asking me if I'll be his 'Tamer' and I didn't know what that means so I said yes. Then this little thing came out of nowhere." She explained taking out a D-Gadget. "What does this mean, what are these monsters, and what the hell does this have to do with me?" She asked, winded from the long explanation. I sat there for a minute, completely dumbfounded.

"No Fucking way!" I said out loud to myself, "No way, there's just no way."

K had taken a seat on the couch and Gotsumon was sitting on her lap. K had a confused and uncertain look on her face. I stared at them for a minute still not believing what I had just heard.

"Wait, so Gotsumon couldn't give you any information?" I asked her.

"No, all he know is that he's a Digimon and having a 'tamer' will make him stronger." She said looking at him, he looked up at her and made a smile that looked strange because his mouth was just a parting of rocks.

"OK, well now I have a secret for you, Herpetomon you can come out it's OK." I was aware that he had been listening against the door since K came in. He opened the door and came out slowly.

"Holy crap you have one too" K responded "What is going on!"

"Hello to you too" Herpetomon said. I was glad he'd been working on his people skills.

"Oh, sorry, Hi" Kayla said. Then Gotsumon jumped out of her lap and came over to Herpetomon. "Hey you're really big." Gotsumon said. I was getting the impression that Gotsumon was pretty naïve.

"Yeah, thanks I guess." Herpetomon said. Kayla was beginning to calm down.

"Alright, Kayla listen up and I'll tell you how the story goes. Basically there is this place called the Digital World that is in a dimension parallel to the one we reside in. The Digital World gets its name because the entire place is made up of random computer data from this world. Now in the Digital World there are creatures called Digimon. Herpetomon could tell you about that, Dr. Herpetomon take it away." I passed the explanation to him.

"Thank you Dr. Mehu." Herpetomon joked. "OK so Digimon are created when computer data compresses into what is know as a Digi-Egg. A Digimon will later hatch from this Egg. Then there's the levels, Digimon can grow and become stronger by digivolving. There are 7 levels of digivolution. In order of ascension, Fresh-In training-Rookie-Champion-Ultimate-and Mega. Gotsumon and I are Rookie levels. In the Digital World Digimon are sentient and live in civilizations, but some Digimon are evil. They obviously start fights with other good Digimon. Here's where you need to listen up, Tamers. Digimon that are strong enough can make it into the Real World. These Digimon will be looking for a human partner that can make them stronger and digivolve, or a Tamer. Now back to you Dr. Mehu."

"Thank you Dr. Herpetomon." I had to change to joking tone of the conversation to correctly express the dire situation. "So that's pretty much everything you need to know. What do you think?

"Ummmm, OK, I think I get it. But what I don't get is why did it have to be us? Are there any other partner groups out there?" She asked

"Well, uh, Nick's a Tamer too." I told her.

"Uggggh, not him!" I knew she wouldn't take this well, Kayla never really did like Nick. "Well that's great, now what do we do now that we have these Digimon?"

"I'm not 100 sure on that myself, but for now we've just been stopping the evil Digimon that come through to the Real World." I told her. "Your D-Gadget will rumble and Gotsumon will probably notice when another Digimon bioemerges."

"OK, maybe we'll go next time we find one." Kayla said.

"Yeah, I can't wait to fight again." Gotsumon said.

"Nick and I will probably be there too." I told her.

"Well thanks, I just needed some info." She said as she began stuffing Gotsumon in her bag. "Bye, see you later Herpetomon." Gotsumon said just before K made that last push that got him in. K went out to the kitchen and got my mom to drive her home. I pushed Herpetomon back into my room and we just sat there for a while.

"Wow, I still can't believe she's a tamer too. This is getting pretty crazy." I said to Herpetomon.

"Yeah, I know, how weird is that." He replied. Soon after mom got home she called me out for dinner. Tonight we had a chicken dinner and once again I brought some back to my room for Herpetomon to eat. We were both pretty tired so I went to bed early at 9:30.

"No f'ing way" I thought again as I went to bed.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 8: Herpetomon's Odyssey**

Character Shift: **Herpetomon** –Present, Friday the 16th of November-

Crash!

"What was that?" I said to myself once my sleep had been disturbed. I assumed it was just the sketchy neighbors. Brendan's probably gone already. I checked the time to find that it was already 10AM. I got up and did some stretches, just in case. I went out into the kitchen to find out that everyone had already left. In the kitchen I found a note from Brendan. "Hey sorry I didn't wake you up, but I slept in so I had to hurry. I'll be back around 3:00." He's so good about things like that. I walked with a clik-clak across the kitchen floor to the cabinet to see what food there was to be had. I decided to try and make a Tuna sandwich, like I'd seen Brendan make. I eventually got everything right and it actually turned out pretty good. After I cleaned up my tuna mess, I was at a loss for something to do. I didn't feel like drawing anything and I didn't like anything on TV. I sat around Brendan's room, just messing around with my tail, bored to death. Then it hit me "I should go out somewhere." I figured I'd jump along the rooftops to the park or something, but I had to remember, "Never to be seen." I left the house unlocked and bounded over to the next house. I landed softly and dug my claws into the roof so as not to fall off. Then I stood on top of the house to see what there was to see. Off in the distance I saw a lake with some wooded area next to it. "I bet it'd be safe to walk down there" I thought and I was on my way. I jumped from one house to the next. Occasionally I'd even jump to houses across the street. I knew this was risky, but it was also necessary. As I made my way closer to the beautiful lake I wondered what Brendan's idea for my champion form is like. It's probably something huge with cool attacks and everything. I was so eager to see it, but I guess when I finally do it will be first-hand. I was soon at the woods around the lake. There was a road nearby, but the woods were pretty gnarly and I didn't expect anyone to be walking around in it. I changed from jumping from rooftop to rooftop to jumping from tree branch to tree branch. As I went swinging through the trees I decided to get real stylish. I did all kinds of acrobatics, swinging on the branches, letting go, then flying in the sky before I'd catch onto another branch and then repeat. I was having a great time. I hadn't done tricks like that since I was in the Digital World. For a second I was almost reminiscing about the Digital World, but then I remembered Brendan, I'm much better off with him. I used to be nothing, but now I'm making something of myself thanks to him. The lake was only a little ways off, but I could see that the sun was casting a beautiful shimmering reflection on the water. When I reached the edge of the water I dropped off the last branch and landed in full view of the whole lake. I found a rock nearby and I sat on it so I could gaze out on the beautiful scape. I sat for a while, I can't remember exactly how long. Just as I was getting up I heard a voice behind me. "Beautiful isn't it, this world has many wonders." I whirled around quickly to find a heavenly angel warrior type Digimon behind me. She was of fair height and wore brilliant white armor. She also had a pair of large angel wings and on her head she wore a helmet with a dark visor that covers her face. I didn't know who this Digimon was, but as angelic as she looked I knew better than to let my guard down based on looks. I jumped up and my eyes turned green, I prepared for attack.

"Who are you, and how come I couldn't sense you coming up behind me?" I asked sternly. The angel Digimon was taken aback, but she quickly recovered.

"My name is Protagamon, I am the Leader of the Sovereign's D-Corps in the Digital World. We perform tactical assaults on evil Digimon uprisings. You couldn't sense me coming up behind you because I flew so silently you probably didn't even hear me." Protagamon explained. I assumed it was safe for me to calm down since she's working for the Sovereign. The Sovereign are essentially the protectors of the Digital world. All of them are one-of-a-kind almighty Digimon. There's Azulongmon the majestic dragon of the east, Zhuqiaomon (pronounced zew-chow-mon) the flaming phoenix of the south, Ebonwumon, a massive two headed turtle who guards the north, and Baihumon a wintry tiger-like Digimon who guards the West. There's also a rumor that there was a fifth Sovereign who ruled over the entire Digital World.

"Well what, may I ask, are you doing sneaking up on me here, in the Real World." I asked condescendingly. She came and landed next to me, I felt a little uncomfortable sitting next to someone of such holy visage.

"It's nothing you need to worry about. I'm just here to see how things are going. The Sovereign are showing great interest in you and your friends." She explained.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked her.

She looked towards me and just laughed.

"Hey, I said what do you mean, what do they want to do with us?" I repeated harshly.

"I said it's nothing." She repeated in a strong tone that ended the conversation.

"Fine, well, how is the Digital World going? It's been a while." I asked her, relaxing a bit.

"Everything's going quite well, there have been some small-time evil Digimon popping up, but they are usually settled among the Digimon themselves." She said.

"Well that's good." I replied. "This lake really is beautiful though isn't it?"

"Yes." She said, "There are places like this in the Digital world, but it doesn't quite feel the same." We sat there for a while just glancing out over the glinting surface of the lake. After some time of this Protagamon turned away in an odd gesture.

"The sovereign are contacting me, I'm sorry, but I must leave." She said. We both got up and Protagamon began to hover with her angelic wings.

"Wait, should I tell the others about you or is this some kind of secret mission?" I asked.

As she was flying up she said "Just tell them that the sovereign are keeping an eye on them."

"OK, Goodbye." I called to her just before she flew off into the sunset. "Wow, what was that all about?" I said out loud to myself. It was at this point that I realized I had no idea what time it was so I headed back to Brendan's house. All the time wondering what Protagamon and the Sovereign's intentions were. I was no longer in the mood for fancy tricks and flips on the way home so I just hurried along. I reached the house and found it just as I had left it. I grabbed some Blueberries from the fridge and dashed into Brendan's room. I was sitting there for a while popping blueberries and playing with my tail like before only this time I was puzzling over what Protagamon had said. After 2 hours of this I took a nap on Brendan's bed.

Brendan coming in and shutting the door woke me up. He slumped over to the bed. And let out a deep sigh.

"Long day?" I asked. He looked over at me, he was so tired he almost looked dead.

"You have no idea. I'm so tired." He said. At his point I remembered Protagamon.

"Oh yeah, I have something important to tell you." I started to explain to him. "I went out today. I saw a pond from the top of the neighbors house, so I went to see it. I sat there for a while and then this Angel Digimon snuck up on me. I asked her who she was and she said she works for the Sovereign that I was telling you about. She also says that 'The Sovereign are watching us'. Whatever that means." Brendan just sat there for a while, absorbing what I had said.

"Woah, really? That's good, now we have another ally in our fight to stop the evil Digimon." B responded.

"I guess so, but I have a feeling that the situation will lead to something pretty bad." I said.

"I don't see the problem since they are the Sovereign." Said B.

"Well we'll see." I replied. Suddenly, as if on queue I began sensing a Digimon.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 9: Growing Pains **

Return Shift: Brendan –Present Friday the 16th of November-

"Oh maaaan, I just got home from school." I cried once Herpetomon and I had jumped from the window. I brought my cell phone with me to make sure the others would come.

"Come on, Hurry up." Herpetomon called from his alert mode. I ran and caught up with him. Then I took out my phone to call the others. First Nick.

"Hello?" Nick answered.

"Hey Nick it's me are you coming? A Digimon's coming through!" I asked

"Yeah, me and Fatomon are on our way."

"Good see you there."

Now Kayla and Gotsumon…

"Hey K, a Digimon's coming into the real world, you're going right?" I asked.

"Yeah I know Gotsumon just told me about it, and the D-Gadget rumbled like you told me it would."

"OK, Let Gotsumon lead you, see you there." I told her.

"OK see ya'" K said.

Herpetomon and I were on our way as well. This one was pretty far away we were being led to the next town over. I was led to a place that Nick, Kayla, and I all knew well, the field behind the Jr. High we all went to. I could see Nick, Fatomon, Kayla, and Gotsumon had already made it. We came up behind them.

"No way, I didn't know you were a Tamer." I heard Nick say said. I totally forgot to tell him.

"Yeah, I guess I'm a Tamer" Kayla said. She was already pissed at having to be around Nick.

"Hey guys we're here." I said as Herpetomon and I arrived.

"Hey." they all said.

"Hello Herpetomon." Fatomon said to Herpetomon making a cocky look at him.

"Grrrraah." Herpetomon replied making a smug look at him.

"What's with him?" Nick and Kayla asked.

"He gets this way when we find a Digimon is Bioemerging." I excused. This was partly true, but I knew Herpetomon was just being a jerk because of his strange dislike for Fatomon. Then the Digital field appeared. "Speaking of Bioemerging." Inside the fog I heard a big stomp.

"Great, another big one." Kayla said. The Digimon came out of the field and I whipped out my Digivice. The display popped up,

"This is Tuskmon, very dangerous, very big Dinosaur type. Says he uses Charging attacks." I told the group.

"Raaagh" The mammoth Tuskmon made his appearance. He wasted no time in attacking us either, he ran towards Kayla, Nick and their Digimon. Thankfully their Digimon had the sense to pull their partners out of harms way.

"Herpetomon, Go!" I cried. He ran at the monster, jumped and punched him hard on the side of the face. The beast turned to Herpetomon and prepared for an attack, "Horn Buster" The monster launched one of his horns off and it was heading for Herpetomon. Herpetomon swiftly dodged the missile and it exploded on contact with the ground. Herpetomon seemed to be fine, but Tuskmon was moving in for another attack. "Boulder Blast!" Gotsumon yelled as he threw a gigantic boulder at Tuskmon. It hit him hard and he was knocked back. "Nice work, Gotsumon" Kayla said from behind him. The both of them ran to our side. I could see Nick and Fatomon circling around the back. "Flare Activate" Nick yelled. What! Why was he using that now, we were capable of beating him without it. Fatomon became engulfed in a fiery brilliance as he charged Fatomon. "Edge Drive" Fatomon called. In a quick flash he dashed by Tuskmon and made a critical slash along his side. Even though Fatomon was boosted by the flare the attack didn't seem to do much. Tuskmon did a sweep with the giant tusks along his back. Fatomon was hit hard and sent flying.

"Oh no Fatomon's down." I said. Tuskmon was heading in for the kill. "Herpetomon go stop him!" I yelled "Gotsumon! Do something!" Kayla shouted. Our Digimon ran together towards Tuskmon.

"Gotsumon, give me your hand." Herpetomon said to him while they were running. He must've had a plan. He grabbed Gotsumon's hand, jumped towards Tuskmon, and then threw Gotsumon at him. "Take this." Gotsumon yelled as he punched Tuskmon hard in the face. Gotsumon landed and retreated back to where we were. Mean while Fatomon was still out of commission. Tuskmon was still standing.

"Horn Buster" Tuskmon called unexpectedly. The horn missile was headed straight for K! Gotsumon jumped in front of the attack. Boom! The missile exploded on contact. "Gotsumon, Gotsumon, please get up!" Kayla said. We were the only ones left to fight. "You guys hang back. We'll finish him off!" I told the others. "Herpetomon go for it!" He ran up to Tuskmon and cried "Lizard Claw!" He made a few quick slashes with his claws, but it didn't seem to make much of a dent in his armor. This was a losing fight, he's a champion but Herpetomon's only a rookie. Tuskmon ignored Herpetomon and began heading for Nick and Kayla. "Hold it right there!" Herpetomon said, he ran in front of Tuskmon and braced Tuskmon's tusks. He tried and tried to hold Tuskmon back, but he simply wasn't strong enough. Tuskmon was too big and too strong. In one swift movement Tuskmon sharply pulled his tusks out of Herpetomon's grasp and slammed him hard right on the head. Herpetomon fell over sideways and Tuskmon continued to head for Kayla and Nick.

I ran over to help Herpetomon.

"Herpetomon, please get up." No response. "Herpetomon, come on, I know you can hear me. We need your help. You're the only one who can save us now." Herpetomon opened his eyes, which were once again flaming green light. He was able to stand up, albeit feebly.

"Hey, You, big guy." Herpetomon said. "I'm not done with you yet." Tuskmon turned around.

"Yeah, that's my Digimon." I said, "Go, show him what our power can do!"

"Yaaaaah" We both yelled.

"Woah, I can feel it, the joy!" Herpetomon called as he charged Tuskmon.

-Digivolution activate-

Herpetomon jumped in the air and then the digivolution started. "Herpetomon Digivolve to…" First Herpetomon began to grow, even larger than Tuskmon. The second thing I noticed was that he dawned a pair of blue baggy pants. Another thing that I found strange was he gained another finger, giving him 4 (counting the thumb). He landed on the ground in front of Tuskmon with a tremendous crash. "Skymon!"

"Yes! Exactly the way I expected him to be." I said.

"Woah, that was awesome!" Nick said.

"Nice work kid." Fatomon said quietly to himself

"Oh, I get it" K responded. Gotsumon was still out cold in her lap.

"So you got bigger, no problem." Tuskmon said uncertainly.

"He he he, you never learn." Skymon said, with that he jumped up in the air. In addition to his larger size Skymon could also jump a lot higher. He was up who-know-how-high with his new found pants flapping in the wind. Then he cried "Lizard Claw." This time the miasma around his claws was a lot bigger. As Skymon was falling he made a throwing gesture with his hands and a beam of brilliant green light shot out. He came crashing down to earth as the beam destroyed Tuskmon. Skymon absorbed the data and the fight was finally over with.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 10: Back to Basics **

"Glad that's over." Skymon said with a smile. His eye's slowly turned back to brown. Also his face, which was intensely fierce earlier, became the gentle and goofy face I knew. He looked essentially like a larger version of Herpetomon. The main difference was Skymon is a bit more built muscularly. And of course he was wearing pants now. As we all stood there gawking at him I began to think "Maybe I should get my 2 story tall Digimon out of the open."

"Are you guys alright?" I turned to the others as Skymon bent down to be included.

"Gotsumon's going to be OK." K said, I could see Gotsumon was able to sit up. "You fought great, thanks for saving me again." She whispered to him.

"Nick, how about you guys?" I asked

"I'm fine how about you Fatomon?" Nick said

"I'll live another day." He replied. Then he walked over to Skymon and said "You were pretty good back there."

"Yeah" Skymon said "I know." He turned away at Fatomon's extension of friendship. I don't get what his problem is.

"Shouldn't we be getting Skymon out of the open?" K said matter-of-factly.

"Oh yeah, duh." I said "What the hell am I going to do with you?" I said to him. He looked down at me

"I dunno." He said.

"Great thanks for your helpful input" I said, he just smiled at me. Then I had an idea.

"Wait why don't we hide him in the 'Fort'" The Fort I was referring to was in the woods near my old house in the same town. Nick and I used to play there all the time, I was fairly sure that would work.

"What that is?" Herpetomon asked.

Nick replied "It's this old woods that Brendan and I used to play in when he lived in Abington too. That was so fun we'd just make little lean-tos and stuff."

"Yeah, well that's cool, but we have to go. See ya'" K said to me. She got up, came and gave me a hug, and carried Gotsumon off. 'Le pauvre' (French for 'poor thing') apparently he wasn't well enough to walk yet.

"OK, bye, get better Gotsumon." I called to them. I turned to find Nick and Fatomon walking around and checking out Skymon.

"Yeah, I am pretty awesome." Skymon said to Nick who must've made some comment about his size or something.

"Skymon and I better go." I said to them.

"Do you think you could carry us home?" He asked Skymon.

"That's pretty rude." I broke in.

"No problem." Herpetomon said, beaming. With that he picked me up and put me on his shoulder.

"Woah, awesome." I said.

"You guys can hold onto my tail and I'll get you home in no time." He said to Nick and Fatomon, so they did. Skymon stretched a little and braced for a huge jump. Then from the field in back he jumped all the way over the school. It was an incredible feeling. It was like we were suspended in air. I gazed across the horizon and thought I saw a flying, glowing figure near the woods behind the school, but after a double take it was gone. Skymon landed almost soundlessly and I pointed the way to Nick's house. He only lived down the street from the school so we went halfway with them so as not to run an extra risk. They got off Skymon's tail looking scared half to death.

"Next time I think I'll just walk." Nick said falling over, Fatomon caught him.

"Goodbye, friends." Fatomon said for Nick who was a little shaken up from the ride.

"Ok, see ya next time." We said. Fatomon ran to the back of Nick's house while Nick went in the front. This made me wonder what Nick did with Fatomon, I guess he kept him around the house like I do.

"OK, Skymon let's get out of here before we get compromised." I said to him, then I told him the way to the Fort. It was in the woods of the Condo complex I used to live in. I instructed Skymon to stick to jumping in the wooded back routes. We were rapidly approaching.

"I'm really proud of you." I said to him.

"Thanks, I try." He said smiling. I could already see the condos approaching. The woods were adjacent to a big field. I told Skymon to go through the field and then land in the woods. I happened to know that the fort was a large open area that's surrounded by rows of trees. He jumped into the opening and I told him to stay down.

"I'm sorry I have to leave you out here, but you understand I can't have you at home." I said to him as I gave him a sad smile. He laid down over the wide expanse.

"Nah, it's no problem, I'll take one for the team. Plus this is probably the last time this will happen. When a Digimon digivolves for the first time it usually takes a while for him to go back to normal." Skymon explained.

"Ok, but I still feel bad. I'm going to come by with Nick tomorrow and check on you." I told him. "Bye"

"Bye." He replied. I left regrettably and began my long walk home. Mom and Dave were probably freaking out. I walked drearily down the cold, damp streets. It was beginning to feel a lot like winter. "Oh Crap" I thought, I'd forgotten to tell the others about Protagamon and all that, oh well, I'll call them in the morning. I got home surprisingly quick and was very pleased to find no one had even come home yet. I let myself in and went to my room. I hung around watching TV until Mom came home and made us dinner. I sat there glumly, thinking about Skymon who was probably lying freezing cold in the woods. I felt so guilty. Surprisingly I sat through dinner without being pestered and asked 20 questions. I went back to my room and saw that it was 9:00. It was still early, but I decided to go to bed anyway. The sooner I got to bed the sooner I could go check on Skymon. Before I could even get in bed there was a knock at the door. Mom and Dave were in the basement so I answered it. There was a stern and angry looking man at the door. He peered at me from under matted wisps of grizzled hair. I opened the door.

"Hello, I'm Inspector Lyons." The man said dutifully.

"What do want?" I asked.

"That wasn't very nice young man." He said. I hated being told that. "I'm investigating a series of 'Monster Sightings' around here, You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you boy?"

"I have a name "Sir" It's Brendan, and no I don't know anything about that. When did all this start?" I asked, if I could trust him I'd find out when all of this Bioemerging started. I was fairly sure he didn't have anything on me so I wasn't too worried about being caught.

"Well, Brendan, I really don't think that's any of your business." Lyons said. "So you don't know anything about these sightings?"

"No, I don't." I said

"Are you sure, at the station we've had a few reports of a tall and dark-skinned teenager running around with one of these monsters." He said, sneering at me.

"Oh. No, it couldn't have been me, I've been around the house all week, Highschool, y'know." I said, excusing myself quickly. That description matched me, but I tried to keep cool.

"Right, never seen any of these monsters, huh?" He asked.

"Nope, never seen one." I said.

"OK, that's all I needed to know." He said "I'll be in touch."

With that he left me standing there. I watched him pull away in his car. This definitely wasn't over. He looked like the type that would stalk the other tamers and I until he figured out exactly what we were up to. I would have to tell the others about him tomorrow too. Once that close encounter was over with I went to bed. I lay there turning over and over with the worried thoughts of Herpetomon being found out in my head. If the police ever discovered him, we'd be in big trouble. Who knows what would happen he would probably be seen as some kind of Alien terrorist or something ridiculous like that.

I got up around 7:00 which was late for me, especially considering that I went to bed early. I hung around not doing much of anything in the morning. I thought of talking to Skymon on the D-Gadget, but I figured I should let him rest. I called Nick at 11:00 and went over at 11:30. Mom dropped me off at his house.

"Call me and let me know when you need to be picked up." She said as I walked into Nick's house. His parents weren't home so I'd need a ride. Nick had an average sized house; I walked through the foyer and into the kitchen where Nick and Fatomon were waiting.

"Hey, what's up?" He asked.

"Nothing, let's go." I said quickly as I became overcome with worry over Skymon.

"What do you mean? You just got here." Nick said.

"He's obviously worried about his Digimon whom he left sleeping in the woods." Fatomon told Nick.

"Yes, I am, come on let's go." I said

"OK. Fatomon, go chill in my room, We don't need you coming along end getting seen. We'll be back in a while, hopefully with Herpetomon." Nick instructed.

"Right, good luck." Fatomon said.

As I may have mentioned before, until one year ago Nick, Kayla, and I lived in the same town, Abington. Last year my family moved to Whitman, which is a town over. Therefore we are all very familiar with the little town. Nick and I walked back to the condo complex where I used to live, which was also where I left Skymon. We took a route through the graveyard that stretched along the grounds beyond the field where we'd had our battle yesterday. It wasn't the most cheery route, but it would get us there faster. Nick and I walked together quietly. Occasionally Nick would compliment how 'awesome' Skymon was yesterday. When we were nearly there I remembered to tell Nick about Protagamon, but then I figured I'd wait 'till we got Herpetomon back to Nick's house. We went through the old familiar condos to the edge of the woods where we left Skymon. As I peered in I was relieved to see that the giant Digimon I had left the night before was gone, but Herpetomon was also no where to be seen.

"Where'd he go?" Nick asked

"He didn't go anywhere." I said "He's smarter than that, trust me. Herpetomon!"

I walked around looking for him. There were 'relics strewn all around the floor of the woods dating back to the times when Nick and I would make elaborate innovations in our own all-natural technology. These included stick-swords, traps, and forts. Those were the good old days. Then, I noticed a lean-to that wasn't there before.

"Hey Nick, was this here the last time you checked?" I asked Nick because I knew he would occasionally come back to The Fort to check things out.

"Nah, I've never seen it before." He said. Right when he responded I knew who made it. I peeked inside and sure enough there was Herpetomon, out cold in a pile of leaves.

"Well that's my Digimon alright, he's creative enough to make this fancy thing, then he passes out in it." I said, laughing at him.

"Oh yeah." Nick said. I walked around to Herpetomon's head. I poked him until he woke up.

"Oh good you're here." Herpetomon said sluggishly. "Look what I made." He said beaming proudly.

"Yeah, I saw, it's great. You're a Digimon after my own heart." I told him. "So when did you turn back to normal?"

"Once you left I went to sleep as Skymon, then I woke up at night and I was Herpetomon. I was freezing cold so I built this thing and went back to sleep."

"OK, cool, well glad to have you back." I said as I helped him up. "Come one, we're going back Nick's house." Nick began heading home, Herpetomon and I followed. When we got out to the condos I told Herpetomon to follow us from the roofs. I was in a much cheerier mood as Nick, Herpetomon, and I made our way back to Nick's house. The walk back seemed a lot faster and when we came to Nick's house we were relieved to find that his parents were still out. I saw Herpetomon go through one of the windows on the second floor. We went in the front door as Fatomon was coming down the stairs with Herpetomon behind him.

"Mission accomplished!" Nick said

"Yeah, I can see that. Spare me the story." Fatomon said.

"Come on, I'll make us lunch." Nick said.

"Good, I'm starved." Herpetomon said.

"Word." I continued. We all lounged around Nick's kitchen. Nick labored over some French fries and such things, Fatomon stood stoically in the corner, I sat in one of the chairs and Herpetomon sat next to me sprawled over the table. At this point I remembered to tell everybody the news.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you something, well somethings actually." I told everyone. "Ok well, a few days ago Herpetomon went out while I was at school. He was just hanging out at the lake, when a Digimon approached. It was an advocate of the sovereign. Her name is Protagamon, she's an angel-warrior type, and obviously a vaccine."

"Wow! The sovereign." Nick said

"Wow, Protagamon." Fatomon said. "I don't believe it, she used to come to me asking me to join her elite D-Corps."

"Well why didn't you?" Nick asked

"I it just wasn't my thing. Plus, if I had joined I probably wouldn't have come here and met you." Fatomon replied.

"Can I continue!" I asked, and everyone stopped talking. "So anyway Herpetomon asked what she wanted and she said that the sovereign are watching us."

"Watching us! What's that supposed to mean? Are they looking at us right now?" Nick asked foolishly.

"How would I know?" I responded "All we know is that something must be going on, why else would the sovereign be interested in us."

"Good point." Nick said "So what do we do?"

"I think we should just keep doing what we're doing, I have a feeling they'll contact us again." I said. "But before I do anything else, I'd better call Kayla and tell her." I went out side with my cell phone and called her. I contacted her at home. I went through and explained what happened. She wasn't so surprised, but then I realized she has no idea what the sovereign is. I explained the sovereign and she understood the severity of the situation. She was busy so I let her go. I went back inside Nick's house to find Herpetomon out cold on the table while Nick and Fatomon were enjoying their oven-cooked lunch. I woke up Herpetomon for lunch and after we ate I suggested that we leave. I went outside and called for mom to come pick me up. I went back inside.

"She'll be here in about 15 minutes. Herpetomon you should be able to follow the car right?" I said.

"Yeah, I guess, but that's a long way." Herpetomon said.

"Alright, good." I said. "I guess everything's back to normal, for now."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 11: Conundrum**

It's been about 3 hours since Herpetomon and I got home. Herpetomon was now fully rested and feeding on another box of blueberries. We were staring at the TV, but I doubt either of us was watching. It would happen occasionally that both Herpetomon and I would sit and mope in a pensive mood whenever something was bothering us. Both of us were staring blankly, involved in deep thought.

"Herpetomon, how did you like digivolving? Did you like the form I made up." I asked him. He was in such deep thought it took him a second to respond.

"Oh, yeah, it was great, I felt so strong. It was like my will to save everyone made me stronger. Plus I was huge, that was awesome." Herpetomon said.

"I thought you'd appreciate that." I told him. "Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you something. Now this is very important."

"What happened?" Herpetomon asked

"When you were out in the woods last night a police investigator came to the house." I told him

"Oh crap, did he see me?" Herpetomon asked, startled.

"I'm not sure, all I know was that some people told him that they'd seen me around you. He even had a description of me. The good thing is I don't think he has much of an idea about what's really going on."

"Well that's good, but this means we'll have to be really careful from now on." Herpetomon said.

"Yes, if you go outside again and are seen try to lose whoever's following you so they don't link you to the house." I instructed.

"That makes sense." Herpetomon said.

"Well that's good, now I don't know about you, but I'm ready for bed." I said.

"Yep, me too." Herpetomon said.

I got up and got ready for bed, Herpetomon laid down then I shut the door. It was a cold and quiet night, but I felt a lot better with Herpetomon around.

I slept in. It was 8 when I woke up. Herpetomon was already up, he was sitting at my desk messing with the D-Gagdet.

"Good morning!" Herpetomon said in a strangely cheery voice.

"Hi." I said lazily.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked

"Yeah, what's with you?" I asked

"I dunno, I've been thinking, if we keep fighting I'll keep getting stronger, and soon I'll be able to digivolve again. I love the feeling" Herpetomon said. I got out of bed and got some cloths on.

"Good attitude! Yeah, you're going to be the best, a champion!" Herpetomon got me all pumped up "I can't wait, you were so awesome the other day."

"Yeah, I feel bad for the next evil Digimon we run into." Herpetomon said. I sat down on the bed and we sat for a while, talking and thinking. When mom and Dave woke up I went out to see them. They were all dressed to go out.

"Hi, where are you going?" I asked them.

"We're going to Nana's house." She said

"Now is that 'you' we or 'we' we?" I joked

"That is you, me and Dave 'we'" Mom said "Get ready we're going soon." I shrugged, too bad, Herpetomon and I were getting all pumped up too. I went back to my room and told Herpetomon the bad news.

"Awww, do you have to go?" Herpetomon asked in response to the news.

"Yeah, they won't give up, plus I really should go for a visit." I told him. "I want you to stay here, and remember, don't be getting into any fights even if the others are with you. I know it's hard for you to resist, but please, don't get into any fights." He looked at me sadly

"OK, I won't" He cheered a little as he said this "I'll just hang around here."

"Good, thanks, now I have to go." I said as I left Herpetomon in my room. Then I remembered Lyons, so I turned around and told Herpetomon "Oh, and if you do get yourself out, have the sense to tell the others about Lyons." I went to the kitchen to find Mom and Dave had already gone out to the car. This was going to be boring…

Character Shift: **Nick**

"Alright, come on, one more!" I told Fatomon. We'd been hanging out arm wrestling for the last half-hour. I had some rock music blasting in the background and there were potato chips all over the place. I rarely kept a very neat room, but this was excessively messy. Fatomon's weakness was that he couldn't turn down a challenge.

"I'm up for another, I'm surprised you actually bested me once or twice, but not this time!" Fatomon said as he readied his arm. I set mine down next to his and took his hand.

"Go!" We shouted. We were both unnecessarily excited, but we were also hyped up on soda and snacks. The fight was on! Our muscles tensed. I realized Fatomon was going easy on me, but it was still tough. I was starting to lose so I gave it everything I had, I took the advantage. Fatomon grinned, and slammed my hand down.

"Ha, in your face." Fatomon said. He leaned back in the chair.

"Yeah, well it's not like this is a fair game." I said "What are we doing anyway, I'm so hyper right now."

"Yeah, me too." Fatomon said "I wonder what the others are up to."

"I dunno, but help me clean this up would'ya?" I asked him. My room was totally messed up. Trash and food everywhere.

"Yeah. This place is a mess." Fatomon said. We got to work cleaning my room. Fatomon cleaned up the clothes, wrappers, and bags on the floor while I ran the vacuum through. After a half-hour the place was clean enough for me. Fatomon and I were tired so we sat at the kitchen table since my parents were out. I sat there in my blue jeans, red t-shirt, and 'poofy' blue vest. Outside it was gray and meekly raining. Down the street I could see there was a fine mist. The phone rang.

"You can get it." I said.

"Why me?" Fatomon asked "Won't people wonder who I am?"

"Yeah, I guess. I dunno, just get it." I told him, gesturing to the phone.

"OK." Fatomon said. My gaunt Digimon got up and went to the phone. He picked it up and looked very awkward with the phone in his hand.

"Hello?" Fatomon said into the phone, brief pause. "Oh hi, what's going on…He's at home…Ok, hold on." Fatomon walked over to me. "Here, it's Brendan"

"Oh, let me see." I took the phone from him and he sat back down. "Hi, B"

"Hey, I need a favor." He responded.

"OK, what's up?" I asked.

"Well I have to go to my nana's house for the day and I obviously can't bring Herpetomon so I left him at the house. What I need is that if you guys get into a fight I need you to keep him out of it. He'll probably show up, but he can't help you much without me around. I'm trusting you to keep him out of it." Brendan explained.

"Ok, that's too bad, but yeah if we get into a fight we'll keep him out of it." I assured him.

"Good thanks, I have to go, bye." Brendan said.

"Bye!" I returned. "He says he's out at his Nana's house and Herpetomon's at his house. He says that if we get in a fight today we need to keep him out of it for his own safety."

"Right, I understand." Fatomon said. As soon as he said this he jumped to his feet. "Speak of the devil, a Digimon's coming through."

"Oh great, give me a sec, I'll get ready." I told him, I ran upstairs and grabbed the D-Gadget and my jacket. I came downstairs and saw that Fatomon was already at the door. "We need to hurry before Herpetomon gets there, now let's go!"


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 11 continued: Conundrum pt. 2**

We rounded the corner onto Adams street. This is straight down the street from my house, near Abington Highschool and the library. Adams street is a very long two way street that leads down to the Highschool, it has trees running down it's sides. Fatomon and I were running down the middle of the street, it is Sunday after all.

"Kayla and Gotsumon are on the way!" I told Fatomon when we reached the emergence point. I called her when we left the house.

"Ok, get ready, here it comes." Fatomon said. Sure enough, soon after the digital field fizzled into existence. As I took out the D-Gadget I heard a car stop outside the field, a door open, and shut, footsteps.

"Hey guys, just in time?" Gotsumon said, running in through the fog.

"Yep, just In t---" I began to respond, but was interrupted by an evil laugh emanating from deep in the cloud followed by some crackling stomping sounds. Soon the Digimon revealed itself, Brendan was the real Digimon wiz, I consulted the D-Gadget.

"Alright everybody, Golemon, Champion virus type, that's pretty much all I've got on him. This won't be easy." I told everyone. He's a big and tough looking Digimon, His limbs looked to be made out of rock, but covered in wood. At his head he has a large metal portion with his eyes poking out from under the metal hood.

"Even more bad news!" Fatomon said "Herpetomon's coming!"

"Why is that a bad thing? I'm sure we could use some help." Kayla said.

"Yes, but Brendan's not with him, he'd get creamed if he tried to help." I explained. Golemon was beginning his advance on us.

"That doesn't make sense, Herpetomon's still strong though, right." Kayla asked.

"I don't know, I guess Brendan knew what he was doing when he asked me to keep Herpetomon out of the fight. Gotsumon, do you think it's possible for you to defeat Golemon on your own?" I said.

"Ok, sure, with K's help of course" Gotsumon said smiling goofily at her.

"Alright good, now Fatomon, I'm going to need you to keep Herpetomon out of the fight, hold him down, whatever it takes. Remember, it's for his own good." I told him. Golemon had reached Gotsumon who was guarding Kayla and suddenly Herpetomon came rocketing into the fog.

"Fatomon go get him!" I said, beginning to feel useless, I couldn't cheer on my Digimon to hurt my friend, and I couldn't do anything to help Kayla and Gotsumon. I decided to stay put and help alert anyone to any dangers.

Fatomon had successfully caught up with Herpetomon, he had him in a hold from behind.

"What are you doing? Let go!" Herpetomon growled. Brendan was right, he is totally different when he gets this way. Herpetomon was struggling and it looked like Fatomon was holding up.

"I'm sorry friend, but this isn't your fight." Fatomon said. I turned to Gotsumon and Golemon. Golemon was taking swings at Gotsumon while K hung back a bit.

"Rock punch!" Golemon called as he wound up and took a hard swing at Gotsumon. Surprisingly Gotsumon caught Golemon's giant fist, albeit a little feebly. I guess he's a lot stronger than he looks. Meanwhile, Fatomon was close to losing his grip on Herpetomon.

"Let me go! Damn it!" Herpetomon said as he was thrashing wildly in the air. Then his last wild swing caught Fatomon in the face, and he let go. Herpetomon backed off a little, his eyes were glaring green light, and I was a little scared as to what would happen.

"Go easy on him, he's still our friend." I called to him.

"I know, that tell him!" Fatomon returned.

"Ok, that's it hero boy!" Herpetomon said jumping at Fatomon. Fatomon was going for his sword, but I guess he remembered and he let it alone. Herpetomon knocked Fatomon back and began mauling him. I couldn't believe how he was acting, could this all be because of his virus type? Back to Kayla and Gotsumon.

"Boulder burst!" Gotsumon called. He picked up a nearby piece of debris from Golemon's stray punches and threw it at him. The titan Digimon was hit hard and stumbled a few feet. Then Gotsumon ran up and punched him in the chest. Golemon tumbled over. Soon after he was right back on his feet though.

"Sulfur Plume!" Golemon called and opened his mouth.

"Kayla get back, run!" Gotsumon cried as he ran in front of Kayla to absorb a billowing jet of sulfur gas from Golemon's mouth. He began stumbling around, 'till he fell on the ground with a "Cr, crack!"

"Oh, no, Gotsumon, Gotsumon!" Kayla said, running to his side. I could hear him coughing so at least he was still alive. Golemon took another advance. "Please Gotsumon, get up! If you can't stop this monster, the others will be in serious trouble."

Gotsumon slowly got up.

"Yeah, you're right, that's so kind of you to consider their problems." Gotsumon said with a smile. Then, Kayla's Digivice began to glow. –Flare Activate- And Gotsumon began glow with the same light. He was filled with new energy so he ran back into the fray.

"Herpetomon, please stop this!" Fatomon had thrown Herpetomon off of him. Herpetomon was very angry, about what, I didn't know. His eyes were green and very cruel looking. I'd never seen him so angry before, he was usually so mellow and cool. Fatomon on the other hand was looking very beat up, I don't know how much longer he could last.

"Raaagh!" Herpetomon went back and jumped at him. He made a fleeting punch at Fatomon. It hit him square in the jaw. Fatomon stumbled back. Herpetomon landed and knelt down, apparently he wasn't holding up so well either. Fatomon put his hand on the pommel of his sword.

"Fatomon! Don't!" I yelled to him. He nodded

"Trust me." He replied. He got in a stance and awaited Herpetomon's attack. I thought Herpetomon would be wise enough to realize Fatomon would attack, but alas. He made one last dash at Fatomon, he was charging with an air of intense burning anger. When Herpetomon was about two feet away from Fatomon he stepped aside and struck Herpetomon in the head with the hilt of his sword. It was a crushing blow and Herpetomon was knocked out cold.

"Ok, good, now pick him up, we'll have to bring him home afterwards." I told Fatomon.

"Right." He replied.

Back to K and Gotsumon. Golemon was now on the defensive as Gotsumon made many jumps up to his face level to punch him in the face.

"Alright, nice going! Keep it up!" K cheered. Golemon was beginning to run away. Gotsumon gave chase.

"Oh no you don't!" Gotsumon yelled, he grabbed the middle rock from the 'mantle' on his head, wound up, and threw it at Golemon. Although it was just a small rock he threw it with a lot of force, just as the flare was wearing off. The rock flew straight at Golemon's head and Krack! He was hit. The rock was thrown so hard it practically exploded on contact. Golemon was knocked down on his face and was soon disappearing into a cloud of data, which was absorbed by Gotsumon. I ran over to them, followed by Fatomon who was carrying a limp Herpetomon over his shoulder. We all convened in the center of the digital field.

"Well that was weird." K said as Gotsumon reached her and jumped into her arms.

"How did I do?" Gotsumon asked looking eagerly at K.

"You were great, stopped him all by yourself." She responded

"No, you helped too." He said "What happened to Herpetomon?" Fatomon adjusted Herpetomon on his shoulder.

"Something came over him, he attacked me like we were enemies. I just don't get it, I knew he didn't like me for some reason already, but I didn't think that would be enough for him to attack me like that. I just knocked him out though, I'm going to take him home." Fatomon said.

"OK, be careful, and make sure your not caught." I told him

"Of course." Fatomon said as he began running for B's house.

"So this is what you kids have been up to." Said a voice from outside the fog. K let Gotsumon down and he stood defending her. Slowly a figure approached from the field, which was rapidly disappearing. I could see that is was an older man in a tan trench coat, he smoked a cigar and looked out at us from under the rim of his brown dress hat.

"Wha…who, who are you?" I asked, the man leaned back on the hood of his car.

"My name is inspector Lyons and I'm very interested in the little, operations you kids have been making. Said Lyons.

"How did you know about us?" Kayla asked

"Don't you worry about that!" Lyons said, losing his cool "I want you to tell me what these monsters are and what threat they cause."

"These…monsters?" I asked "These aren't monsters. They are called Digimon, and most of them are 'good'."

"Friends?" Lyon asked "You're friends…with these…'things'? These are monsters and they need to be stopped. You say they're your friends, but what if they turn on you. What if they start to attack you instead of following your orders? Or worse, what if they begin attacking other innocent people?" Lyons was becoming frustrated. Kayla looked down at Gotsumon, who smiled at her.

"No, that won't happen." Kayla said "I don't know much about these Digimon, but I know that me and Gotsumon have a special relationship. A trusting relationship that can't be broken easily. I know the good one's won't attack humans because, well, they just don't need to. My cousin says that humans created Digimon to live in peace with humans someday." Kayla knelt down and put her hand on Gotsumon's head.

"Yeah, that's right." I backed her up.

"You think so?" Lyons asked "What about your friend back there, Herpetomon was it? He turned on you, his own friends."

"Well, he's, uh…" I said, grasping for an answer that didn't exist to me.

"Exactly, They are unpredictable and not to be trusted." Lyons replied, a faint noise of his police radio could be heard coming from his car. He ducked in and answered it, then turned to us again. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to cut this discussion short." He said with feigned courtesy. "Keep an eye on those "Friends" of yours, maybe they'll turn on you too." With that he got back in his car and backed out down the street. The three of us were all a little shaken at our being found out.

"What was that about?" Kayla asked.

"I don't know, what I want to know is, why didn't he arrest us or anything." I said.

"Who knows, but we'd better be careful from now on." K said "Who knows what he might try…"

"Yeah, well, see ya." I told her.

"OK, bye bye." She responded and ran off with Gotsumon in her arms. I followed her down the street, parted, and continued to my house. It was only 8:30 so I walked in and went up to my room. I sat there for only a few moments before Fatomon came knocking at my window. I slinked over and let him in.

"Hey how did it go?" I asked him as he came in and took a seat on my bed.

"It was good, I left him in Brendan's room, I left a note on his chest explaining what happened." He explained.

"Alright good. Hey! Listen, after you left some police inspector named Lyons came and gave us a talk. He says that he knows what we've been up to and he really doesn't trust Digimon." I told him.

"Oh, I see, I guess we'll get that a lot, huh?" He said.

"Yeah, I suppose, if you ever go out stay away from him." I instructed.

"Right." Fatomon affirmed. "Well that was a crazy night." Fatomon lay back on my bed and flipped up his grill-visor, revealing his bright yellow eyes. "Crazy night."

Return Shift: **Brendan** –Present Sunday the 18th of November-

Finally, back home! It had been a long and surprisingly enjoyable trip. It was around 8:00 when we got back and I was anxious to see Herpetomon, I had a sneaking suspicion that he broke himself out during the day. We pulled up to the house, I got out swiftly and went into the house. I looked around the kitchen, which was unmarred; mom and Dave came in the door. I casually took off my jacket and slipped into my room. It was dark so flipped on the light and shut the door.

"Hey Herpetomon, did you miss me?" I asked without turning around, worried. I instantly whirled around to find Herpetomon knocked out on my bed looking very beat up. "Oh, Herpetomon, you didn't." It didn't take a genius, I understood what had happened. I went and knelt by him, he was covered in bruises. I couldn't even tell if he was alive or not. I was distressed, but since he was still in this world I assumed was still living, in some distant stretch of the word. Near his head I found a note and took a closer look; _Dear Brenda. Nick, Kayla, Gotsumon, and I got into a fight with a Golemon that bioemerged. When we got there Herpetomon arrived too, we remembered our promise, so I kept Herpetomon out of the fight. Kayla and Gotsumon handled the Golemon. Herpetomon was very angry, he started fighting me…like we were enemies. In the end I took out my sword and knocked him out with the pommel, he'll be Ok tomorrow. You can ask us about it later, goodbye friend. _I might've known, but I didn't think that Herpetomon would attack Fatomon, even in his alert-mode. I'd have to talk to him in the morning. Presently I moved him to the floor and got ready for bed. All the while puzzling over what Herpetomon fighting Fatomon could mean. Basically when he's out of the alert-mode he's my best friend, the wise and funny Digimon I made him to be. Then, right when he changes like that, he suddenly becomes violent, angry, and so different from what I'd hoped for him to be. It doesn't make any sense. As I got into bed I came to the disappointing suspicion that the evil that resides in Herpetomon, somehow, comes from me. As nice and happy as I try to be, I've always had a dark and angry side inside myself. I'd always kept it down and maybe it was now being shown through Herpetomon. It seemed irrational as well as improbable, but it was as good a guess as any at this point.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 12: CASTIron**

I woke up, it was 5:00 in the morning, an hour before I usually wake up. I decided to check on Herpetomon since I might as well get up now. Herpetomon was still asleep so I got up and put on my daily habiliments.

"Herpetomon get up!" I whispered loudly.

"Oh, uh hey." He said, beginning to stir "Sorry about last night."

"Yeah, what was up with that? I know it can be hard to control yourself, but attacking Fatomon?" I inquired. He sat awkwardly and looked down at the floor.

"I'm sorry, I…just, couldn't control it this time, he got in my way, I just couldn't stand it, I, I'm sorry." Herpetomon said. He began to shudder "I'm sorry I'm so much trouble for you. Sometimes I wish I didn't get that way when a Digimon is near, but I can't help it!" I felt bad for him, he really can't do anything about it, and it's just the way he is.

"It's Ok, I know you can't control it. What you need to do is practice staying coherent when you go into 'alert-mode'. You know what I mean?" I told him.

"Yeah, that must be it, once I get better at holding back I should at least be able to stop myself from attacking my friends." Herpetomon said as he began to cheer up. "Thanks."

"No problem, now, school starts soon, you'd better get some sleep today, you look pretty beat up." I said.

"Yeah, Fatomon and I got pretty serious." He said.

"Ok, see ya later." I said as I left my room, waiting for mom to come down and take me to the bus stop. And at 6:15 she did.

Monday went by quickly, as did Tuesday and Wednesday. Herpetomon got better soon after our little talk Monday morning. It had been an uneventful week thus far, but I had a feeling Thursday would be different. School on Thursday was long and arduous. Nana wasn't available after school, so I took a taxi home. I came into the house at 3:30 and Herpetomon was drawing in my room as usual. There was something ironic about seeing Herpetomon draw.

"Hey, what are you drawing now?" I asked him, he looked up.

"My ultimate form, what did you think?" He said like I should've known

"Now you want me to check it over like before right?" I asked, he made an awkward look.

"…Yeah" he admitted

"Well too bad! He he, Alright, let me see it." He handed the pad to me and I got to work. I told him not to look again, he'd just have to be ready for another surprise. After I was done making my changes it was 4:00. I hid the pad in my desk and began working on my homework while Herpetomon lay back on my bed. I slowly worked way through anything from L'Imparfait to Stoichiometry. It was a dreary day and I was feeling very melancholy. After an hour of studies I was alerted to the familiar rumbling of the D-Gadget going off. I grabbed and turned to Herpetomon who sure enough was wide awake on my bed.

"Let's go." I said calmly and we leapt from the window. The weather was odd. The sky was gray and bustling and the temperature was equally as mild, it seemed inappropriate for late November. Although it was gray it was still bright out so Herpetomon had to take to the roofs. This was a fairly short trip, we were running towards the park down the street. I passed several surprised bystanders as I ran straight over to the park. I found it strange that the people had no idea about what was really going on. It was then that the impact of everything that had happened hit me. I had my own Digimon, so did my friends and we were all going out on adventures. All my wishes had come true, but something felt wrong, like this was all bigger than I realized. In any case we had to deal with the problem at hand. We safely reached the park and Herpetomon was at my side. The others hadn't arrived, but the field was already appearing. Soon the park was covered in the dreary gray fog.

"Herpetomon what do you think?" I asked him.

"Not Good." was all he said. He definitely meant it because a second after a huge bellow could be heard from the field.

"Ok, here we go." The display popped up "Oh no way! Devimon! Champion and a virus type. You've got to be kidding. I don't think we can take him alone, try to stave him off until the others get here!" Devimon emerged from the fog with an evil cackle. As he came out I could see that he would easily be one of our most challenging opponents yet. He was tall and relatively thin, but his most frightening feature was his hands. They were big and bandaged, truly a ghastly sight. He had a generally ominous look to him considering his stringiness. He sauntered closer and closer, his arms were motionless at his sides. Without warning he struck. He launched one of his arms at Herpetomon who managed to catch his hand. Devimon was now flying above him, pressing down with his long arms and trying to crush Herpetomon. Herpetomon was trying to hold him, but Devimon's strength was too much.

"I didn't want to use this right away but there's no other choice, flare activate!" I called and rose the D-Gadget. Immediately Herpetomon could feel the affects, he began to glow and threw Devimon's hand to the side. Then he jumped up and attacked. "Lizard Claw!" his flare power was so strong it brought Devimon to the ground. Herpetomon landed softly next to me as the light subsided.

"Hey guys! Did we miss anything?" I heard Kayla call from the fog. Before I could answer Devimon went towards her. He thrust out his hand again and grabbed her. "Gotsumon, help! Ahhhhhh" Gotsumon raced after her, but Devimon was already flying.

"Herpetomon, you'll have to throw Gotsumon again." I told him. So he ran to Gotsumon and told him.

"Ok, hurry up!" Gotsumon said and Herpetomon grabbed him by the arm, jumped towards Devimon and threw Gotsumon as hard as he could. He was sent hurtling towards Devimon and he cracked him one hard in the head, causing him to drop Kayla.

"Herpetomon, grab her." I told him. So he did, as she was falling he jumped up and snatched her out of harms way. She appeared to be fine, but a little bit shaken.

"Hey B, I'm Ok." She assured me suddenly, without warning Devimon snatched Herpetomon out from underneath her. She was brought to the ground so I went to her as Gotsumon was grabbed as well. I was left alone tending to Kayla while Gotsumon and Herpetomon were being held literally around the waist by Devimon.

"Herpetomon hang in there!" I yelled to him "Oh man, where's Nick?"

As if on queue I heard Fatomon's armor clunking through the field.

"Nick, hurry, the Digimon are in trouble!" I yelled. Nick came up behind me as Fatomon ran in to attack. Devimon was preoccupied with Herpetomon and Gotsumon who were writhing in his hands. Fatomon approached from the front of Devimon and drew his sword. Devimon was still laughing. Then his eyes began to glow, and soon after a crimson beam shot out of each eye. Fatomon anticipated the attack and put his sword in front of the blast. The beams hit the sword and to our grim surprise we heard chunks of metal fall to the ground, his sword had shattered. The force had knocked Fatomon to the ground. Nick, K, and I watched worriedly from the side. Fatomon got up and looked to be at a loss for what to do next.

"Fatomon!" Nick called to him "You're the only one who can do this now! You need to digivolve, to save us all." Nick seemed strangely excited about all this. K and I just watched as Fatomon stretched a bit and ran into Devimon again. Nick was staring intently, his muscles tensing a little. Devimon blasted his lasers like before, but Fatomon was wise to it now, he somewhat sluggishly dodged the attacks, moving ever closer.

"Now! Do it!" Nick yelled. Fatomon jumped in the air.

-Digivolution activate-

"Fatomon Digivolve to…" His armor was stripped off. While he grew, new armor was created around him. He now had thicker armor covering his legs and chest. The armor was now red, rimmed in black. He had plate mail running up his chest and shoulder armor. He had armor running down his left arm, but not his right, the sword wielding arm. His sword also grew from a comparatively small scimitar to a long devastating blade. Lastly his helmet changed. It was no longer a grill with his maw sticking out, but it was a face-fitting helmet that followed the shape of his head. It was decorated to look like his face underneath. "Castimon!"

"Wow, cool, I didn't think it would really work." Nick said laughing. Devimon had backed up to the street and in front of some houses. Castimon prepared to strike. I didn't know what kind of power Castimon had, but I was worried that it would harm the houses. In addition to the police monitoring us the last thing we need is a criminal record.

"Now Castimon!" Nick said

"No wait, the houses!" I called

Too late "Thousand Stabs," Castimon called he drew his sword and began to stab Devimon again, and again, until his motions were a blur of the flashing red of his sword. Devimon was pushed back to the houses and I thought he would crush them, but when Castimon's attack ended Devimon fell to the ground spewing data, nearly defeated. Herpetomon and Gotsumon made their escape.

"Nick! What were you thinking!" I yelled at him. "That attack could've crushed those houses behind Devimon!"

"What do you mean, we did it didn't we?" He replied

"Yes, but that's not the point, it could have caused a lot of harm and you just made the decision on a whim like that, that, that was so foolish!" I said

The fight was going on behind Nick, Devimon was in bad shape and our partners were throttling him.

"What is your problem, it doesn't matter, they're fine." Nick replied, becoming agitated.

"Don't you see? This is something much greater than ourselves, a great power, and we need to be responsible. We need to think things through." I tried to explain.

"Whatever, we're out of here. Castimon let's go." Nick said. I hadn't noticed in my fury, but Devimon had been defeated. Nick was already walking away, K was standing again, and I was still puzzled at Nick's behavior. Our Digimon were at our sides.

"Hold it right there!" It was Lyons again. Nick stopped and came back to us as Lyons came closer.

"You again, what is it with you, what do you want?" I asked.

"What I want is for you to get those Digimon out of this world!" He yelled "They are a menace and I want them gone."

"Get rid of them? You fool, you don't understand our situation at all. We don't' know how to send them back, and even if we did we wouldn't because they are our friends and they belong with us." I explained for the group.

"Don't you talk to me like that! You need to respect your elders. Well, since there's no way to make them go back I'll have to do it for you." He went into his jacket and pulled out a sizeable magnum pistol. Our Digimon got in front of us

"Whoa, Inspector put that away, please." Kayla said.

"No, if you can't make them go away then I'll just have to get rid of them." He was struggling with his aim, I took the initiative. I leaned forward to Herpetomon,

"Hey, let's switch, it's you he wants. After all, he can't shoot us." I whispered

"Right, I understand" Herpetomon went behind me, luckily without saying anything the others understood and did the same.

"Move it! I need to get rid of them." Lyons said

"No, Lyons, we won't let you. You need to understand that not all Digimon are bad, not all will be like Devimon." I explained.

"Please, move" He looked like he was very confused and upset, he was almost crying. I assume he'd been drinking and was having some inner turmoil. "Move, Damn it!"

"No!" We all said in unison. Lyons was startled and he looked like he was going to break down. He brought down the gun and stood looking at it in his hand. I whispered a command in Herpetomon's ear. He dashed over to Lyon's with outrageous speed. Before he knew what happened Herpetomon had taken the gun from him, and tossed it away.

"Now go, and leave us alone." Herpetomon said quietly. "Please, just let us stay here." Inspector Lyons was startled, he stumbled back to his car which was waiting outside the field. "I'm not done with you yet, I'll find a way!" Lyons yelled out his window as he sped away.

We watched as his car disappeared down the road. Nick turned to leave again, Castimon followed. "Bye," Nick said. I refused to answer, Kay replied "Bye." I didn't know what Nick was going to do with Castimon, but I didn't care.

"What's your problem?" Kayla asked.

"I can't believe him, that kind of carelessness makes me crazy." I said.

"Same here." Herpetomon said frowning.

"Well, what's done is done, I guess." She said

"It's always been that way with him. He always just does whatever he thinks of right away without even thinking. It pisses me off." I said. K was speechless. "We're going home, see you next time." Herpetomon and I left quickly. I was feeling very upset for some reason. Nick's actions were getting to me. It made me angry, and I didn't like it. I tried to repress and get over it, but his foolishness was outstanding, I couldn't believe it. Herpetomon and I circled to the back of the house and jumped in as usual. We didn't say anything for a while. We were both upset with Nick.

"Come on, let's go to bed." Was all I could say.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 13: Curiouser and Curiouser**

"Oh Duh!" I woke up and looked at the clock, 5:50, I forgot that I didn't have school today. There was a teacher's meeting at school that I totally forgot about. Oh well. I sat up to find Herpetomon lying on the floor looking up at the ceiling.

"Hey." I said

"Hello, feeling any better?" He asked smiling.

"Yeah, a little, I'm still mad, but as long Nick doesn't pull anything else it'll be fine." I said "Good thing too, I hate to be so angry, especially at him, but I can't help it, it just happens."

"Looks like we both have an anger issue then." Herpetomon said. His insight was showing again.

"Yeah, I guess. Sucks." I said.

"Yep it does." Herpetomon said "I don't know what to say"

"Let's just try and control it for now." I said.

"Sure, I guess." He responded "So what are we going to do today?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot, I don't have school today." I told him

"I know." He said with a sly look.

"How do _you_ know?" I asked surprised.

"I saw it on your school's website." Herpetomon said smiling.

"Fine…weirdo. Well, I was thinking I could go over my friend Matt's house, and I might introduce him to you." I said.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Just yesterday you were talking about stupid decisions."

"No, trust me, if I know Matt there won't be a problem. Plus it's not a stupid decision because I'm making it."

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Well I'm up for it."

"Ok, well, I'll call Matt later then." I said.

"Fine, Do it, you won't" He said.

"Yeah, yes, yes I will! I'll throttle ya'!" I said. I was glad he could lighten things up. That's another thing he and I have in common, we can both take the tension out of a situation pretty well.

The morning dragged on slowly. I was eager to introduce Matt to Herpetomon. I called him and said I had a surprise, he's going to be so jealous. Around 11:00 Herpetomon and I left for Matts house, he only lived a town away and it would be easier to just walk. He took to the roofs as usual. I turned one the D-Gadget and held it like a cellphone.

"Hey Herpetomon." I said

"Yes," I heard his voice over the D-Gadget.

"When I get to his house I'm going to bring Matt out into a circle of woods behind his house, then I want you to drop down from the trees when I snap my fingers, that will be so awesome...Ok?"

"Yeah, it's going to be grandiose even." He said. Still surprising me with his vocabulary.

It was a longer walk than I thought, but it was alright. It was getting increasingly colder out, I was wearing blue jeans, a black turtleneck, and a red beanie. It was bright outside, but not sunny. Soon enough we came to Matt's house. He lives in a small ranch with his Mom, Dad, and much younger sister…who has a crush on me. I told Herpetomon to stay up on the roof and wait for my signal. I knocked on the door, Matt answered.

Matt was a small boy, always was. He joined the Football team at the beginning of highschool and packed on some muscle. He has a small face with squinty blue eyes.

"Hey, B." Matt said, he and his family were probably the first to coin the nickname "B." I came in, took my shoes off, and followed Matt to the kitchen.

"So what's been going on? Haven't heard from you in a while." Matt said.

"Nothing much" I said trying not to smile "Just been…hanging out. Yeah, I brought a surprise."

"Oh yeah, you said that, what is it?" Matt asked.

"…It's a surprise. Come on, I'll show you out back." I said

"Why out back?" He asked.

"Pffft, just come on." I said, walking out. He stumbled after. We went and grabbed our shoes, and left out the back. Matt's Grandma was watching him and his sister and she wouldn't mind us leaving. We walked through the crisp wintry air outside. Trees were bare, the ground was frosted. It was a bit of a walk, I had to make sure we were into the clearing enough so that Herpetomon wouldn't be seen from the houses around it.

"Ok, so what is it?" Matt said as he took a step back.

"Hold on a sec." I said. I took out the D-Gadget, turned away from Matt and whispered "Hey, are you ready?"

"Yeah, this is going to be so cool. Just watch." Herpetomon said.

"B, what is that, what are you doing?" Matt asked, trying to see what I had.

"Nuthin'" I put the D-Gadget back in my pocket "Ok, Come here" I gestured for Matt to come stand next to me. "Ready?"

"Ready, for what?" He asked.

"Just watch." I raised my right hand high in the air so Herpetomon could see. Snap! It echoed slightly in the clearing. Herpetomon waited a moment, and then I saw him plung out from the trees in from of us. It was so perfect, he did a backflip in the air and landed in front of us, with his face in shadow. Then he stood up, and I moved next to him. Then I said

"Surprise!"

"Woah, what, what is this?" Matt said, stepping back. "Is this one of those,uh, Digimon?"

"Aww, how did you know?" I asked, somehow he'd heard of them. I didn't think he was a Digimon fan.

"I heard on the news, there was some damage in your town, tracks and stuff police say it was the work of monsters, Digimon." Matt said.

"Oh well, I thought it would be a surprise, aren't you surprised I have one? His name's Herpetomon I created him." When I said this Herpetomon smiled a sabertooth smile.

"Wait, what do you mean you have one? Aren't they dangerous?" Matt asked.

"Well, let me explain. Simply put, there are two dimensions, the one humans live in, and The Digital World, where Digimon come from. Some Digimon come to The Real World to find partners who can augment their powers, make them stronger. Herpetomon is my partner." I explained.

"Ok, so he's not evil?" Matt asked

"No…I'm not evil, so he's not evil." Herpetomon and I had to pause when I said this. Still unsure about ourselves.

"Well, that's cool. He's pretty awesome." Matt said.

"Thanks, I agree." Herpetomon responded.

"Oh yeah, they can talk too." I said laughing.

"When did you first find him?" Matt asked.

"A few weeks ago. I basically wished for him to appear and he did. Oh yeah, you know my friend Nick and my cousin Kayla, they each have one too. We go around stopping the bad ones who come into this world. In the Digital World there are these leaders called The Sovereign, and they are keeping an eye on us too."

"Wow, that's crazy. So does he have any weapons?" Matt asked. Matt was always a fan of weapons and firearms. In response I just held up Herpetomon's clawed hand. "Oh, that's sick! And I love that tattoo thing. Well, I saw that you can jump, what else can you do?"

"I can do lots of things." Herpetomon said simply.

"Well let's see it." Matt responded. I was happy Matt didn't freak out or anything. I knew I could trust him. But I was a little alarmed people were beginning to know Digimon were around.

For the rest of the afternoon Matt and I watched as Herpetomon did amazing things like jumping through the trees, and chopping small trees down with his bare claws. It was pretty fun, just Matt, Herpetomon, and I. It was good to get away from the fighting for a while.

It was getting to be late, about 4:30. And we were all cold so we headed home.

"That was so awesome!" Matt was saying after Herpetomon did a double back flip off a tree and stuck the landing. "I wish I had a Digimon! He'd be like, some kind of robot, or something with, like, a blade arm or something." Herpetomon came over and we began walking.

"It's been done, but sure, why not?" I said. Now I was happy, Matt was jealous. I didn't usually revel in that kind of pleasure, but for some reason, having a Digimon when he didn't made me smile.

When we were at the entrance to the clearing Herpetomon froze. Oh no I thought. I turned and sure enough Herpetomon's were turning green.

"Matt, come over here." I brought him behind Herpetomon. "A Digimon is about to come into this world, we may have to fight him."

"How do you know?" He asked.

"My D-Gadget is rumbling, and Herpetomon's eyes are turning green, but happen when a Digimon is coming." I explained.

"Well Wha---" Cut off, the digital field appeared. I told Matt to stay close and I took out the D-Gadget. Waiting, waiting, and then, the display.

"The Digimon is Black Guilmon. No problem, he's a rookie, you should be able to handle him easy. Go get him." I said. The Digimon came creeping out of the field, looking as ferocious as Herpetomon. It made me wonder if there were many Digimon that come under alert like that. BlackGuilmon needless to say looks like the regular Guilmon but he's black rather than red. They fought. They were struggling hand in hand. Herpetomon was victorious, he pushed BlackGuilmon into the ground. Then he called "Pyro Bomb!" He opened his mouth wide and blasted out a searing ball of purple flame which exploded on contact with Herpetomon.

"Holy Shit!" Matt cried.

"Don't worry, watch this." I said. Herpetomon recovered from the blast and knelt down. Then blasted into the air and cried "Lizard Claw" The miasma covered his hands and he slashed downward on his opponent. BlackGuilmon was badly injured. He stumbled for a while, and looked like he was trying to stop fighting. He tried to walk away, but he came back and tried to slash at Herpetomon again. Herpetomon dodged and let BlackGuilmon fall to the ground. I began to wonder why BlackGuilmon continued to fight, he was beaten, but he still tried. I came to the conclusion that it was his alert-mode. Like Herpetomon he can't resist a fight. Even though he wants to leave he can't. He's compelled to stay. The Alert mode causes them to think irrationally and ferociously. I don't understand it, why do they have it. Was it because they are viruses? Maybe this is just how viruses have it in the rookie form. It seems so unfair, I don't know about BlackGuilmon, but Herpetomon is a good Digimon, he doesn't deserve that. I don't understand it. I would tell Herpetomon to leave him alone, but I had a feeling neither of them would be able to leave each other alone. I'll have to ask Protagamon, if we ever hear from her again.

"Raaagh" The BlackGuilmon feebly tried again to attack, but Herpetomon punched him in the back of the head as he went by, defeating him. His data was released and then absorbed by Herpetomon.

"Wow, that was intense" Said Matt. Herpetomon came out of alert mode.

"Yep, but I got him." He said.

"Good work." I said still lost in thought over the bane that is alert mode. "I think we should go."

"I understand. I'll see ya'." Said Matt as Herpetomon and I ran off just in case anyone saw us. The trip home always seems shorter. Herpetomon jumped through my window and I walked casually through the front door.

"Hey, how was Matt's house?" Mom asked.

"Good." I said

"Fine, whatever, grouchy." She responded. I hate being called something so lame as grouchy, but it's been happening more and more lately. I retreated to my room before she could talk to me any more. Herpetomon was on my bed already.

"Get outta here!" I said, pushing him off. He got up and laid down on the floor, I turned on the TV and we proceeded to hang out for the rest of the afternoon. There were occasional interruptions from mom, telling me to do any number of things. Around 8 Herpetomon started to fall asleep so I interrupted him.

"Hey, Herptomon, do other Digimon have alert modes like you do?" I asked

"Yes, I fought one or two. I don't think they are as bad as me though. They can usually stop if they really need too." He said.

"But that's so wrong. I mean, I know Digimon lead a life of battle, but you shouldn't have to if you don't need too. I just keep thinking it's my fault you ended up this way. Like my anger, my fury, caused this in you." I said.

"Oh, no don't think of it that way. I've always been like this." He said

"I know, but you forget, I made you from the beginning, don't you think some of 'the creator's' traits might rub off on his creation?" I said.

"Well that's a good point." He said. "Well, it's not all bad, I mean, it does make me stronger."

"Yes, but at the expense of your sanctity of mind." I don't think I like it, it's too dangerous, and furious. It reminds me of myself sometimes. I've always been pretty mellow, but sometimes I just get completely furious, and it worries me, losing composure like that."

"I see." Herpetomon said pensive, he was in the thinking pose I usually go into when I'm fascinated with something. "Well, along with "Why I'm here." And "What The Sovereign wants" let's just add "What is the cause of alert mode" to our list of unanswered questions. Hey, maybe if Protagamon returns we can ask her!"

I didn't like having to put everything off, but the truth was there's really no way we could find the answers to those questions.

"Yeah, why not?" I responded. We went back to watching the Matrix and soon enough we were both falling asleep. So we went to sleep. Herpetomon snored.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 14: 4-1-1**

I'm in the grand-foyer of my school. The stairs are across from me, the library doors to my left, the hallways to my right. I was alone. From the hallway I saw a man I didn't know coming towards me. I couldn't make out his face no matter how I tried. He was being chased by a another, I hesitate to say, person. It was covered in shadow. It was very tall, and it looked like it had either a knife or a clawed hand. However it was also lithe and thin. The man came to me and whispered "Help me, Help." Then yelled "Help Me!"

Suddenly the monster was behind him. I looked into his face for a split second before he brought down his hand and destroyed the man literally, he was gone. And now I was alone with it, in the dark hall. His face was largely in shadow, but I could make out glasses, and a very familiar toothless grin.

I woke up. Herpetomon was over me, shaking me awake.

"Oh man, I just had the weirdest dream." I said.

"You too?" Herpetomon said

"Ok, that's weird, you first." I said.

"Mine was pretty short. I was in a building I've never seen before, there were people everywhere. The bad part is, I slaughtered one of them. Out of the blue, I couldn't stop it. It was worse than alert mode. I don't understand it. So, how about you?" Herpetomon explained.

"Mine started in my school. This guy ran up to me, asking for help, he was being chased by this tall shadowy thing. I couldn't do anything, then the shadowy guy killed the other guy right in front of me. Then I saw his face. He wore glasses and he smiled at me. The thing that really worried me was he looked a lot like me. Symbolism much?" I said. Trying to lighten things up. "Both our dreams involved killing. Us killing other people, that's not good. I think this was just a coincidence though, nothing to worry about. Let's just forget about it."

"Yeah, no problem." Herpetomon responded. It was pretty awkward so I got up and went to have breakfast. While I was eating mom came down.

"Hey Brend, K says she's coming over later." Mom said.

"Random, but Ok." I said, then I remembered Gotsumon would be with her, that could be fun. I finished the cereal up quickly to tell Herpetomon. Put my stuff in the dishwasher and went back to my room. Herpetomon was tracing the designs on his body.

"Uhh, yeah, Kayla and Gotsumon are coming over soon." I said.

"Oh cool," He said. So we hung out for a while, talking, until we heard the car pull in. I left Herpetomon in my room and then K came to the front door. She had her backpack with her, which I assumed she was using to carry Gotsumon again. Mom let her in. There was the usual exchange of "Hi, how's it going, how's your mom, etc." When everything was through Kay came into the den and I shut the door.

"So what's up? Why did you want to come over?" I said as I went to let Herpetomon out. The den is connected to my room and the kitchen, I shut the kitchen door so is t was ok to let him out.

" I just felt like hanging with my cuz, son. Plus I needed to get Gotsumon out of the house, my mom's having a few friends over." K explained. Herpetomon came over and let Gotsumon out.

"Aww, I hate having to be in the bag, I wish I could just walk around." Gotsumon said.

"Well, hold on." I said "Let's go down to the basement, I'd feel much safer there." We put Gotsumon back in the bag, Herpetomon went back to my room, then K and I went to the basement.

"What are you guys doing?" Mom asked "Why're you going to the basement?"

"Nothing, geez." K said. As we were going down the stairs K asked "Is she always like that?"

"Pretty much." I said. When we got to the basement we let Gotsumon out, he ran into the next room and jumped on the couch. Then I went to the bulkhead and opened it so Herpetomon could jump down and come in. Soon after, he did. He joined Gotsumon and Kayla on the couch. I sat across from them, until I saw Herpetomon who was giving me the 'feed me' look. A strange expression that expresses hope, wanting, and sorrow all at the same time.

"Ok, I'm going to get some food. Try to keep the noise down, you guys are out of control!" I said, joking. I ran upstairs and grabbed some food. Blueberries for Herpetomon, crackers for K, I had no idea what Gotsumon might eat so I grabbed some Funyons. Went back downstairs, ignored whatever mom may have said, and gave out the food. I enjoyed the Blueberries with Herpetomon who was regret to lay his hands off them. It was cool for a while were all just sitting down there, watching TV. Herpetomon and I gentleman and mon-like gave up the blanket to Kayla and Gotsumon, who technically should've given it up, but who knows. I can't tell with Gotsumon, he's a pretty funny little guy, I like him. He's the smallest of the Digimon, but he tries hard.

It was glorious, "The Price is Right" came on and we guessed the prices. It sounds very lame, but it was nice, just laughing and relaxing. Our Digimon and us.

"Oh come on, 501$ for a set of kitchen ware! No way! That's rediculous." Said Herpetomon.

"Pffft, like you know any better." Said Gotsumon. We all laughed.

"Heha ha, you're such a moron." Kayla said to Herpetomon.

"Ouch, harsh." I said, the laughing continued. Herpetomon was looking strange.

"Ohh, no, not now." He said, clearly a Digimon was on it's way. He was up like a shot.

"Kayla, a Digimon is coming." Gotsumon said, turning to K. He too got up.

"Oh great, and we were just starting to have fun, Fine. Herpetomon take to the roofs, check things out, but please, please don't start fighting 'till we get there. Please just try to resist." I said. He looked me in the eyes and nodded, somehow I felt he meant it this time. "Good, now K…" I was about to tell her to put Gotsumon back in the bag, but she already had, she was catching on. "Good, now let's go."

I led out the bulkhead. And up to the door. "Hey mom, we're going for a walk." I yelled into the kitchen.

"Alright, bye." She responded. Clear. We began running down the street to the right. I could see on the houses Herpetomon was just ahead of us. We were being led by the D-Gadgets down the street adjacent to my house. We were a little late, I could see Nick, Fatomon, and Herpetomon waiting for us in the lot outside the factory where Herpetomon and I first fought Gazimon.

"Hey, sorry we're late." K said.

"No, you're not late, the party is just beginning." Said Fatomon.

Sure enough the Digital Field popped up. I had a decidedly bad feeling about this fight. Foreboding, portentous. There was little waiting this time, the display popped up.

"Frigimon, Damn, as if it weren't cold enough. Champion, vaccine, his attack is subzero ice punch." Kayla explained.

"Ok, Herpetomon let's do it up right this time. Digivolve!"

:Digivolution Activate:

"Herpetomon digivolve too…!"

"…Skymon."

It's been a while since I've seen him. Larger version of Herpetomon, wears blue pants, and has extended patterns on his body, also has a new finger, giving him 4 counting the thumb.

"You too Fatomon." Nick said.

"Right."

:Digivolution Activate:

"Fatomon digivolve too…!"

"…Castimon."

The field began to disappear and Frigimon was exposed. Nick and I had our Champions and Kayla had Gotsumon. The fight began

"Subzero Ice Punch!" Frigimon yelled. He punched at Castimon who happened to be closest to him. He was hit on the shoulder, causing a thick frost to grow on his left arm's armor. Castimon drew his long sword and went on the offensive slashing and hacking at Frigimon. He wasn't causing much damage, it was like Frigimon was made of snow, the slashes were being filled in as he made them. He continued to slash while Skymon made his move he ran up behind it and began slashing as well. Still no affect. Gotsumon joined in too. Frigimon was standing boldly, taking it all easily.

"Wait, stop, you're wasting your energy." I yelled. As soon as they stopped attacking Frigimon attacked. "Subzero Ice Punch." He went for Skymon this time, He tried and uppercut, but Skymon swiftly dodged it, but didn't see the other fist. The other wasn't the subzero punch, but it still hit him square in the chest.

"Thousand Stabs." Castimon called, he began driving his sword in and out, faster, faster, furiously. Despite the cold his blade was glowing red. I think we were all hoping the heat from his blade would melt him or something, but nothing. In the middle of his attack Frigimon turned on him and gave him a subzero Ice Punch to the face. Luckily Castimon had that form-fitting helmet, because it quickly became covered in ice. While Castimon fixed himself up Frigimon gave him another blow, sending him to the ground. Meanwhile Skymon had gotten back on his feet. "Lizard Claw" He yelled and shot the green beam from his hands into Frigimon. The beam seamed to melt right through him. Shooting through and hitting the street on the other side.

"Skymon, you can't use that, you might damage the area, please stop." I yelled. He looked down at me for a second and turned just to see Frigimon's fist crack into his face. He was down too, leaving Gotsumon and the rest of us. I ran to Skymon, Nick to Castimon. We tried as best as we could, but they couldn't seem to move. I assumed mild paralysis. Gotsumon was trying to fight, but he was having the same problem the others were. He tried to lift up Frigimon and drop him to the ground, but Frigimon just went through his hands. He tried using Boulder Burst, but his chunk of ground would just get caught in Frigimon side. Frigimon advanced on Kayla, Gotsumon stood between them, arms spread.

"No, stop, I won't let you hurt her! Stay back!" Gotsumon yelled.

"Gotsumon, can you digivolve like the others?" Kayla asked. Gotsumon turned his head to look back at her.

"I think so, but I don't know how." He responded.

"Please Gotsumon, do it, for me." She pleaded. When she said this Frigimon called "Subzero Ice Punch."

"Nooooo."

:Digivolution Activate:

"Gotsumon Digivolve too…!"

Gotsumon was covered in a brilliant white light, it converged around him and changed his color from gray to white.

"Icemon!"

Frigimon was thrown back from the arrival of our final Champion. Kayla was unscathed and looking up at our new champion. It looked almost exactly like Gotsumon only Icemon is pure white. While Frigimon recovered Icemon bent over and picked up the remnants of his boulder attack. He threw them with an even stronger force than normal and displaced some snow from Frigimon. Frigimon had fallen over from the burst. Icemon took the initiative "Ice Bomb." He jumped up in the air and his each of his hands was covered with some kind of snowy particles, then he threw them together which created a huge ball of mixed ice and rock. Icemon threw this huge projectile as he was landing. Not only did it hit Frigimon with tremendous force, but I also noticed it began to freeze him slowly, he began to move slower and slower until he was frozen solid. Not necessarily covered in ice, but Icemon's ball must've frozen him up. While he was incapacitated Icemon took up another boulder and hurled it at Frigimon cracking him up and releasing his data. Icemon absorbed it, and we were victorious. Kayla walked over too him.

"That was great, you were so strong!" She said.

"Really? Did I do good?" He asked.

"Yeah, you owned." She said. Gotsumon just smiled like he does. Skymon and Castimon had recovered enough to stand, when they did we instructed them to change back to their much more convenient rookie forms, which they did promptly.

Near the factory was a small inlet of trees and grass that I'd never noticed until I saw it while we were fighting. Rather than going home so soon we hung out around there. There was an opening that was covered by bushes and shrubs, and it used 3 of the factory walls, I was disappointed I'd never found it before. It was pretty much the perfect meeting place. We all sat around. I sat on a box near the farthest wall from the entrance, Herpetomon next to me. Nick sat next to the right wall, Fatomon leaned on it next to him. Kayla and Icemon examining the place. I'd been thinking, about Nick and I, and when I think of all the time we spent together, fighting seems kind of stupid. As angry as I was it just doesn't matter anymore.

"Hey, Nick." I said quietly, I was never really used to the whole idea of apologizing. "Sorry, about the other day. I really shouldn't have gotten so mad." Everyone looked at me.

"Yeah, it's ok, now that I think of it, it was kind of stupid of me." He responded.

"Cool, but what I don't believe is that we had another fight already. I got into one yesterday, and there was Devimon the day before. It's crazy how many Digimon are coming through lately. I wish we had some answers. Where are the Sovereign when you need them?" I asked.

"Right here." A voice said from nowhere. We looked around but there was no one there. Suddenly some kind of portal opened up in the middle of the 'room' It was a spinning circle with a glowing center. A form rose out of it. It was obviously a Digimon. Clad in pearl white armor, wielding a long staff, and bearing two angelic wings. This could only be Protagamon.

"It's Protagamon!" Herpetomon and Fatomon said together. She had appeared fully and had a dire look on her mouth, the rest of her face was covered by a visor.

"Tamers! I trust Herpetomon gave you my message from the Sovereign." She said.

"Yes, he did." I responded for the group, who had moved behind Herpetomon and I.

"Good, thank you Herpetomon." she said, Herpetomon smiled "Unfortunately I come bearing very bad news. I'm sure you know about the Digital world. It is another dimension directly connected to this one. The Sovereign are essentially a governing body in the Digital world. There are four of them, each for the polar directions. I am part of the D-Corps, we work with and for the Sovereign to protect the Digital world. Recently there was an attack on a small town in the Digital World. It was made by a group of unusually strong Digimon working under someone they called 'Alice-M.' since then there have been several attacks and the group has been growing rapidly. The Sovereign request your presence in the digital world to help deal with this threat."

"You request our presence do deal with this? I'm not sure about the situation, but I feel like we should. What do you guys think?" I said.

"I'll obviously go with you wherever you go." Herpetomon said "But I'm up for it."

"Yeah, we can save the Digital world!" Nick said.

"Very good, I'll go too." Fatomon said

"Won't we be gone for a while?" K asked

"To be honest I don't know how long it would take at least a week, probably more." Protagamon explained. "This would mean that you'd have to tell your parents about your situation."

"Well, Yeah, I'll go, I'll have Icemon and the rest of you guys with me. So how do we get to the Digital world?" K asked.

"The Sovereign have granted me limited abilities to create portals to and from the Digital world, similar to the one I just came through. I can create one tomorrow at…8:30 in the morning. That is the only time I'll be able to keep one open, and it won't be open for long. I need you to be here tomorrow at 8:30 in the morning, ready and prepared. You won't need to bring food. Just be here." Protagamon explained.

"Oh, Protagamon. I have a friend who may want to come with us tomorrow. He hopes to find his own Digimon, would this be Ok?" I asked, referring to Matt.

"Yes, as long as you think he can handle it I don't mind." She answered. "Now, I must return to my Sovereign, don't forget. You must be here tomorrow at 8:30 in the morning ready to go." When she said this she called up another portal below her and she sunk into it and left us alone. Things were serious and quiet for a while.

"So, I think we should be getting home now. We have a lot to do. We need to tell our parents about the Digimon, that we have to go, and packing and other stuff. This is going to be so exciting, but it will also be more challenging than anything we've done before. But now we have purpose, we aren't just stopping the random evil Digimon anymore, we're united in an effort to stop a true villain. So go, get ready and remember, back here, tomorrow, 8: 30." I felt proud saying this, considering I'm such a bad speaker. The others seemed to be pretty inspired by it though. We said our good byes to Nick who left with Fatomon towards his house. As K, our Digimon, and I were leaving I saw a familiar car go by, Lyons. I wondered if he saw us, but I wasn't worried about that now. We were leaving tomorrow no matter what.

Gotsumon was back in the bag and I kept Herpetomon secret for now. K and I went to my mom and said K had to go home to work on a project. So K's mom came and picked her up soon after and I was alone for the moment. It was just me, I had a job to do. I needed to tell my parents what was going on. And our adventure would start. It seemed so sudden, I didn't think we'd be thrust into the middle of something so soon, but, here I am…here, we are.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 15: Fare Thee Well**

It was about Noon on Saturday. I had gotten over the feeling of portent over our impending adventure and was in my room with Herpetomon planning what to do next. I decided to wait until the afternoon to tell mom about Herpetomon. For now I'd call Matt and ask him to come. I dialed his number, he answered

"Hello?" Matt said

"Hey Matt it's me." I said.

"Oh hey, what's goin' on?" He asked.

"Well you know about the Digital world and the Sovereign I told you about?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, the Digital world is in danger, one of the Sovereign's soldiers has asked my friends and I to come to the Digital world and help out with stopping the threat. You said you wanted a Digimon so I said you might want to come." I said.

"Yeah, sure why not." Matt said bluntly.

"Well, it's going to be dangerous y'know?" I said.

"Yeah, know, but I'll be fine if I find my Digimon right?"

"That's true."

"So what do I do?" He asked.

"Well you know that factory down the street from my house, you need to come there tomorrow at 8:30 in the morning. You don't need to pack anything, just come prepared." I instructed.

"Wow, that's early, but I'll be there, I'll say we're going camping or something."

"Alright fine, but my mom will probably tell her the truth once we leave." I said.

"That's cool. Ok, so see you tomorrow, 8:30"

"Alright, don't be late." I said, and hung up. I laid on my bed and looked up at the ceiling, Herpetomon was doing the same. We were mentally preparing for our adventure. We usually think alike and I always have to prep myself before doing something big like this so I imagine that's what he was doing. It was around 4:00 at this point. I decided it was about time I told the parents my secret.

"Herpetomon, I think we should go meet my parents now." I said. Nervously

"Yeah, I guess so, nervous?" He asked.

"A little, but I'll be Ok, right? It's not like we're asking them, we're telling them. We're introducing you and then just telling them that we'll be going. Ready?" I said.

"I'm ready." He said.

"Ok, just try to be as non-threatening as possible. My mom's afraid of snakes, we'll be lucky if she doesn't have a heart attack when she sees you." I said. I got up and went to the door. I decided to sit in the Den and call mom in, Dave(step-dad) wasn't home yet, and wouldn't be until tomorrow afternoon so he'd miss me going away. I sat Herpetomon next to me and I hesitantly called her in. "Hey mom, come here, I have to show you something." I called to her.

"What?" She asked.

"Just come here, it's important." I said.

"Ok, I'm coming." I could hear her coming down the hall. Then she came to the kitchen and looked in at us. At first she made a disgusted look, then she screamed, and then ran back down the hall and slammed the door. Then she opened it again and slowly came back down the hall.

"Oh, it's just fake, you little brat." She said laughing.

"No, he's real, he's a Digimon." I said and Herpetomon waved to her. Again she made that disgusted and confused face.

"Come here, get away from that thing, I'll call the police." She said, hiding behind the wall again.

"No, mom, you don't understand, he is my friend, his name is Herpetomon. Come in here and sit down I have to tell you something." I said surprised at my own strength.

"What do you mean he's your friend? He's a monster!" She said.

"Mom, please." I said and looked as solemn as I could. She slowly came in and sat in the love seat that was closer to me. Herpetomon looked at he and she almost got up and left.

"Now, this is Herpetomon, he's called a Digimon, they come from a different world. Alright?" I said slowly.

"Yeah, I've heard of them on the news, so how are they friends if they've been destroying things?" She asked?

"That wasn't us, there are evil Digimon who come into this world looking for partners or just causing trouble. We were fighting and stopping them, that's what caused the damage." I said.

"Ok, well why is he here?" She asked.

"I don't actually know for sure, but I do know something else. The Digital world is in trouble right now, it's being gradually taken over and mistreated. I'm going with Herpetomon to stop the threat." I said.

"What, no you're not, that thing is dangerous, plus you'd be alone, no way." She said.

"Mom, it's not that bad. Nick, and Kayla have Digimon as well, and Matt is coming." I said "I'm sorry, I should respect your wishes, but I feel that this is something I have to do, Herpetomon and I. It's our duty."

"They all have these things too? Are they telling their parents too?" She asked.

"I told them too, whether they do or not is their own decision." I said.

"Oh, great, so I can't stop you?" She said.

"No, but don't worry, I'll be fine, I'll have my friends with me, and Herpetomon would never let anything happen to me." I said. She looked over at Herpetomon.

"So what's with you, you better protect my boy." She said. "Ugh, I hate snakes."

"I will." He said.

"Oh come on, he doesn't look anything like a snake, he is a reptile type though." I said. Mom was very upset all of a sudden. She hugged me which was odd, she rarely hugs me anymore.

"I wish I could make you stay, I don't see why you have to go. It seems important to you though, I'll let you go." She said. Then tried to compose herself. We went through the rest of the night like normal. No that mom knew about Herpetomon he could get his own food. Mom would make a disgusted noise whenever she saw Herpetomon though. It wouldn't be so bad, after all, we'd be gone tomorrow.

Character Shift: **Nick** –'Last day on Earth'-

"Oh man, how am I going to tell them?" I said to Fatomon who was sitting on the edge of my bed. "They'll never let me go."

"Well, don't ask, tell them, you have to be strong." Fatomon said.

"Good idea." I said. "Ok, let's go." I planned on just telling them and getting it over with. We went downstairs me first, then Fatomon. Mom was in the kitchen, Dad was in the living room past it. I walked into the kitchen slowly with Fatomon right behind me. Mom turned around and saw me first then.

"Oh my God, Nicky, what is that!" She yelled. Suddenly Dad was at the door looking in. "Jesus Nick, what is that thing?"

"Everybody hold on!" I yelled over them. "Ok? Calm down." Somehow, it worked, Dad stood sternly waiting for an answer and Mom hid behind him.

"Ok, so, this is called a Digimon, his name is Fatomon. Digimon come from the Digital world. I found him after school once and we've been friends since." I said. Mom and Dad relaxed a little bit.

"But what is it? Why is it here?" They asked.

"I just told you, it's a Digimon. I don't know why he's here though. Do you know?" I asked Fatomon.

"I wanted a partner, turns out you're the perfect one for me." He said.

"Yeah I am." I said and hit his breast plate. "Yeah, I forgot to ask. The Digital world Digimon come from is in another dimension. It has this government thing called the Sovereign and their world is under attack. I want to go help fight the enemy with them. Brendan, and his cousin Kayla each have a Digimon too, and I'll have Fatomon here." I said.

"No, you can't go, you can't trust these things." My mom said.

"Please, let him come with me, I swear to you that I will protect your son." Fatomon said. They looked at him kneeling before them. They whispered to themselves for a while and then turned to me with their answer.

"Ok, We'll send you off with our blessing." They said. "Just be careful and don't do anything stupid. When are you leaving anyway?"

"Tomorrow at 8:30 in the morning. Can you give me a ride? I can show you where it is" I asked.

"Yeah. We will." They said.

"Thanks." I said. We had dinner soon after. It was pretty strange eating with Fatomon and my family for once. It would probably be our last time eating together in a while. I was so excited. I kept asking Fatomon what the Digital world was like. I couldn't believe it, we're going to be heroes!

Character Shift: **Kayla** –'Last Day on Earth'-

"Ohh, he's so cute." Mom said. She had just come in a while ago and found me talking with Icemon. What's weird is mom wasn't really scared of him at all she just came over and started playing with him.

"His name's Icemon, he's a Digimon," I said. She didn't seem to understand the situation.

"Digimon come from this place called the Digital world. Is it Ok if I go there with Icemon? Brendan and his friend Nick are going with their Digimon. I really just want to see it." I said.

"When will you get back? Is it dangerous, does Brendan's mom know about this?" She asked.

"We're leaving around B's house at exactly 8:30 tomorrow. I don't know when we'll get back though. And yeah, B's Parents know." I said.

"Well, alright, I guess, but bring your cell, I want to know when you're coming back." She said. It just hit me then that I'm really lucky Icemon is so small. B's mom must have freaked out at Herpetomon, he's taller than she is.

"Ok, cool, I'm going to pack some stuff." I told her. I went into my room with Icemon and shut the door.

"Hey Kayla, why didn't you tell her why we're really going?" Gotsumon asked.

"I don't know, she might not let me go if I tell her what we're going to do. Besides, B's mom will probably call her later." I told him. He looked upset. I picked him up and held him in front of me. The rocks he's made of were chilled and cool to the touch, cool side affect. "Come on, it will be Ok, trust me." He seemed to feel better. I put him down and we looked around my room for things to bring. I had no idea what to bring. I realized how big of a thing it was that we were doing. I never thought of it, but a whole world of creatures like Gotsumon were depending on us. It felt weird, but I knew we would have to do it. Like B would say "It's our responsibility as Tamers to do this."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 16: Goodbye, Hello**

Return Shift: **Brendan** –Sunday Morning-

It was Sunday morning, 7:00, at 8:30 we'd be on our way to the Digital world.

"This is it, the big day!" I said to Herpetomon. He was at the kitchen table and I was pacing as I usually do when I'm restless. I couldn't wait anymore. Mom came in and silently walked by Herpetomon again. She come over to me and said. "It's Ok, I want you to go now, I don't want you to be late."

"Mom, It's an hour and a half early." I said bluntly. Herpetomon looked up.

"Well, It's so hard to let you go, I just want you to go so I can start worrying about you." She said. She was clearly upset. She got up and gave me another hug. I was starting to feel sad also. It isn't a time to be sad, she'll be fine once I go and Dave comes back. She let me out of the hug.

"Really, I mean it, I'll take good care of him." Herpetomon charmed in. She just turned on him and gave him a nasty look.

"I do not trust you. You have a nasty look to you, in your eyes. I don't trust it. If you do anything to my boy I'll get back at you, got it!" She said, getting into his face.

"I'm telling you, you have nothing to worry about." Herpetomon said smiling "It's under control." Mom leered at him.

"Fine, but you guys should get going. Really. Go." Mom said. She gave me one last hug and we went for the door.

"Don't worry, we'll be back, goodbye." I said. I gave one last look before leaving her behind. She had a look of mixed pride and sadness. It made me sad too, but I had to go. We walked slowly down the street. I allowed Herpetomon to come with me this time. It didn't matter if we were seen, Lyons was no longer an issue. People saw us and ran away, but we moved on. We came to the factory quickly because it's right around the corner. We dashed inside the hideout before people could see where we were going. We ended up being the first ones there. Like I thought. We just walked around, too excited to relax. A car could be heard pulling up outside. I thought that it was one of the others. Herpetomon and I waited for whomever it was to enter. A bold form we didn't expect entered. A moment of twilight and then the person was revealed to be none other than Inspector Lyons. He began to speak.

"Oh good, you're here." I interrupted. Last night before going to bed Herpetomon and I found a plan. Since we would be away for who knows how long we'd need someone to take care of the emerging Digimon. Who better than Lyons?

"Good?" He asked.

"Yeah, in about a half-hour my friends and I will be going to the Digital world for a big adventure of sorts. While we're gone we'll need someone to take care of the evil Digimon that will be coming while we're gone." I said.

"You want me to help?" He said.

"Yeah, you're the one who wanted to destroy all of the Digimon remember, now's your chance. While we're gone you've got to watch the place." I said smiling. It seemed Lyons was dropping his tough cop act.

"Really! Well, that's all I wanted all along. When you guys are gone I'll call in some big forces to stop them." Lyons said as he turned around "Oh, and feel free to leave yours there when you come back."

"Riiight." I said as he disappeared past the shrubs "Wow, that guy is so weird."

"I know, first he just sneaks around messing with us, then he tried to kill us Digimon, and now he's all smiles." Herpetomon said. "Weird." Someone peaked their head in after he left.

"Was that Lyons that just left?" Came Nick's voice. He entered and was followed by Fatomon.

"Yeah, I told him to watch Earth while we're gone. After all someone needs to stop the ones who come when we're gone. Are you guys ready? I'm so excited."

"Good point, neither of us slept well last night, too much excitement. I'm kind of sad to be leaving, but it will be so cool." Said Nick.

"I know, well let's just wait for the others to get here." I said.

"They'd better not be late." Fatomon said. We each sat or stood next to our Digimon. Constantly getting up and shifting around because of the anticipation. Soon after Nick arrived Kayla came in with Gotsumon next to her. He'd digivolved back to Rookie.

"You're early too?" She asked.

"Yeah, Herpetomon and I came early, then Nick. I'm bringing my friend Matt too, he wants to find his Digimon so he'll be the last one." I said.

"Oh great, another boy." She said. We laughed apprehensively.

"Hey, come on, we're not that bad." Nick said.

"Well not when you're surrounded by them." She said. We began to chill and we waited for Matt to come. It took him a while, but he arrived as well. He walked in through the shrubs like I told him last time.

"Hey, Matt's finally here." I said.

"Well, you said it was at 8:30 right?" He said.

"Yeah I know, I was joking, we're just early." I said "So, you remember Nick and Kayla? These are there Digimon Fatomon, and Gotsumon." I said.

"Oh, hey." Matt said.

"Hiiii" Gotsumon said waving from behind Kayla.

"Hello, Matt." Fatomon said coolly. Matt walked over to Fatomon whom he was pretty impressed by. He started looking him over.

"Wow, you are so cool." He said "I love that sword."

"Well thanks, wait until you see me in action." He said smiling.

"I'm sure you're beastly strong." Matt said.

"Sure, something like that." Fatomon responded. The atmosphere was getting so tense. All of us were eagerly waiting for Protagamon so we could get this adventure started.

"Ok, so, this is our last time in this world for who knows how long. Enjoy it. We face tough battles, unknown struggles, and new opponents ahead of us. But do not waver we also face new digivolutions, new friends, and good memories." I explained.

"And don't forget about the fame." Nick said.

"Yeah, right, whatever, but yeah, this will be an incredible journey and I don't know about you, but I am so pumped I can't stand it." I said.

"Yeah!" Everyone yelled, and then laughed. I felt whole. Suddenly another portal like the one yesterday opened up. It grew like before, but this time it grew much larger. Then Protagamon rose out of it like before. Once she appeared fully I said."Protagamon, we are ready."

"Good, I'll tell you when you can enter. You should all hold hands so that when you come into the Digital world you won't be separated." She instructed.

"Alright, and Protagamon, this is my friend Matt, the one I mentioned before." She turned to him

"Hello Matt, ready?" She asked.

"Yeah, let's do it." He responded. While Protagamon prepared to open the portal for us we joined hands around it. We looked around at each other's faces. They showed a wide range of emotions from joy, to exhilaration, to fear, and to eagerness.

"Ok, Tamers, It's ready, go now." She exclaimed. We gave one last look and I yelled "NOW!" We all took the leap and became surrounded in the light.

The feeling was hard to describe. It felt like I was motionless, all I could see was light and I couldn't hear anything. All I could feel was my body tingling. Suddenly I went from a motionless state to a falling state. Once again I could feel my comrades hands and my eyes were closed. I could feel I was slowly going unconscious. I was able to open my eyes for a small moment and see my friend's faces again. They were all unconscious, but we held together. Below us I could see the ground, I thought it was a nightmare at first, but then I remembered. From the horizon I saw a long blue flash coming towards us. It came under us and picked us up, then I lost consciousness.

It's warm, the ground underneath me. I began to wake up. I couldn't move much at first and I couldn't seem to open my eyes. I just began to feel around with my fingers, which could move. I felt dirt and some grass. I tried again to move and I was able to lift myself up and slowly open my eyes. The light blinded me. I closed my eyes and then squinted them to see where I was. The scenery was amazing. It was a field of grass with and odd town in the distance, but the sky was a beautiful shade of blue I'd never seen before, it was almost electric. I sat back on my ass and let my senses come back. I started to hear and feel a gentle wind blow by. Somehow, as my mind adjusted to my new setting I was overcome with a new strength, I became able to stand up. I gave a look around me, I was in a small patch of dirt in the middle of the field. Around the patch were my friends and the Digimon, all unconscious, but Herpetomon was coming awake. I knelt by him and helped him wake up and get up. He looked drowsy.

"Woah, the return trip wasn't as easy as the trip to the real world." He said, laughing, and almost falling over. "But at least we made it. And you got new cloths too." I honestly hadn't noticed, I was too amazed by the scenery. I checked myself out to find I was wearing brown leather shoes, a lighter brown pair of corduroys, a red turtleneck, and a red beret. I loved it! Especially the beret. I noticed that the others were all wearing new cloths too. Slowly each of them began to come awake, we helped them each get up. First Matt who looked surprised yet calm and composed. He was now wearing Brown jeans, a denim jacket, a gray shirt underneath, and new black shoes.

"We made it, sweet." He said. "And I'm loving the new duds." Next Nick woke up, then Gotsumon who helped Kayla. Nick was now wearing black boots, black jean shorts with red stitching, and a red tanktop with an orange vest over it.

"Oh man ,this place is so cool." He said "I love it." Also Kayla was wearing her favorite wardrobe, almost all white. She wears white strapless shoes, white jeans with a gray belt, and a tight long sleeve jacket that had fur on the collar.

"Hey, Gotsumon, no, I'm Ok." She said. "Oh wow, where'd these new cloths come from?" Lastly Fatomon woke up and stood next to Nick. Everyone was discussing their new attire.

"Ok, Guys, I know are new cloths are awesome, but we've got things to do. Like choose a leader." I said. They all turned.

"What do you mean choose a leader? Aren't you the leader?" Nick said

"What? Me?" I said.

"Yeah I always just thought you were the leader." K said.

"No way, I'm a terrible leader." I said "Trust me."

"I want you as a leader." Herpetomon said.

"Yeah well I'm your partner that doesn't count." I said. "We'll vote then. Who votes for me to be the leader?" All of them voted for it. "Oh great, fine I guess since you all trust me so much I'll do it, but don't blame me if I screw up." I said trying to joke, no one laughed.

"You won't." Herpetomon said. I was surprised in the trust they had in me.

"Thanks." I said. "Now, I guess we should just wait here for someone from the D-Corps to help us because I have no idea what to do. Any of you Digimon been here before?"

"Nope." They all said.

"Great, well, let's just wait, someone should be here soon enough." I said. We began milling around waiting. Some talked, some observed the atmosphere, I sat with Herpetomon on the ground. We looked around but not much came or went. Not until

"Hey look!" Matt yelled to the rest of us. He pointed to the road by the village and there was something coming. It could barely be made out against the sunlight behind it.

"That'll be Codamon, an elite in the D-Corps. He's a champion level, vaccine. Officer Cyborg type. He basically looks like a robot and a dog mixed together." Said Fatomon. I had forgotten he was an expert on the D-Corps. In fact he was probably the most experienced one on this expedition, having been here the longest. The speck that was once Codamon was coming into focus. He was indeed a robotic dog. He looked like a breed similar to a German shephard. He wore a visor similar to Protagamon's over his eyes, his muzzle stuck out underneath and his ears poked out from the back. He was much larger than a normal dog, he's about Kayla's height, 5"9'. His hind legs looked like his natural ones, but his front legs were bionic. Also the mechanisms stretched over his back and up his neck a little. I'm no engineer (as much as I'd love to be) but it looked like Codamon had some gun type systems built in the works. He came bounding up and stopped in front of us, prodigious looking creature.

"Tamers! Hello, welcome to the Digital world. I'm called Codamon. My mission is to guide you to the Sovereign where you will receive your assignments."


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 17: New Beginnings**

We were all stunned at first by his loud and clearly enunciated speech. As he stood proudly waiting for our response I took notice of the blue and white paint on his mechanical parts and helmet. He looked like a police dog or something.

"Hello again old friend." Fatomon said walking up to him and putting his arm on Codamon's back.

"Oh, Fatomon, I had heard you found yourself a partner, how are you, which one is your partner?" Codamon asked.

"I've been doing well with my Tamer Nick." Fatomon said pointing to him.

"That's good, but we really need to get moving." Codamon said "I will be bringing you to a place called Hub Tower, from their we can talk with the sovereign and find out what we need with you." Codamon explained.

"Where are we now?" Kayla asked

"Well, The Digital world for the most part is made up of many large islands, but we are on the one main continent we call 'Main-land'. We are in the southern area of Main-land, Hub Tower is up north. Also, the Sovereign's domains are located on floating islands at the polar directions North, South, East, and West." Codamon explained. "Oh, and before I forget, I bring gifts from the Sovereign." When he said this we became a little confused, we didn't expect anything. Then Codamon opened up a small compartment on his front left leg and we went over to see what it was. In the small compartment were three small tag type things, all lined up. I instantly recognized them from the show, although these had strange symbols on them.

"Codamon! Are these tags? Tags that will allow our Digimon to reach Ultimate?" I asked excitedly.

"Yes, I didn't hear until recently we'd be having an extra guest so unfortunately he won't have one." He said this frowning at Matt. Codamon fascinated Matt, he looked at him so deeply, I didn't understand it. "Brendan takes the green one, Nick the red, Kayla the gray." So we did. On my green one was some kind of smiley face. "You may also know that tags represent a dominant force or trait the person demonstrates, the same goes for these. Brendan, your crest is 'joy' because even when you are sad and things seem hopeless you manage to bring joy to others. Kayla, yours is Sincerity because you will do anything in your power to help out your friends. Lastly Nick, yours is strength, represented by a Triforce. This is because like a Triforce you demonstrate incredible will and strength in achieving our goals."

"Yes, we can get to ultimate now!" Herpetomon said looking at the tag.

"But we need to show this trait to do it right?" Nick asked

"Yes." Codamon and I said at the same time.

"Oh man, you are going to be so…strong." Nick said to Fatomon.

"Now put them up to the Digivices and you'll be able to carry them around with you." Codamon said. We did and sure enough they disappeared into the D-Gadgets. "Now let's get going." Codamon said. He began walking us in the right direction and we followed. All that lied ahead of us was a forest to our left and a village off in the distance. We were following a dirt path. The temperature was nice and there was still a soft breeze. The only noises heard were the footsteps, the clunking of Fatomon's armor, and the occasional hiss of Codamon's mechanics. Again I was filled with a new energy, the sense of adventure was getting to me. I backed up to Matt who was being pretty quiet.

"Hey, isn't Codamon awesome?" I said he looked up

"Yeah, he's so cool, I bet he's really strong." Matt said.

"I'm sure he is, we'll probably see him in action soon enough, too soon." I said.

"I know." Matt said. The walk continued, occasionally we'd hear a rustling in the trees next to us, but aside from that we were alone.

"Codamon, shouldn't there be a ton of Digimon running around now?" K asked.

"There should be, but all of the danger with Alice-M and everything have people scared so the just stick to villages or stay in groups." Codamon said.

"Wow, that's pretty bad, I can't wait to help fight it." K said.

"I'm sure you'll get your chance." Herpetomon said.

"Oh yeah, Codamon, why did our cloths change when we came to the Digital world?" she asked.

"They changed?" He asked.

"Yeah, when we woke up here we were wearing different cloths." K explained.

"Oh, I've heard of that phenomenon. No one really knows why it happens." Codamon said shrugging. The village we were approaching was coming closer and closer. Inside it I could see some movement, other Digimon finally. It would be interesting to see them living their lives.

"That village up ahead is named 'Opolis' it is inhabited mainly with in-training and rookie levels, I think we should rest there for a while, you guys had a rough trip." Codamon said. We all agreed with him. Some of us were getting a little tired, personally I had a headache from the transition. Soon enough though we reached the borders of the small town, there was a sign that indeed said 'Opolis' We could now see that the town was made up of several small houses they looked like cottages. Reaching up in the middle of town was a small clock tower. The whole scene was very quaint. We entered the town to find a clearing in the middle, the town square. Across the way were many little bouncing Digimon, the 'in-trainings'. One of them caught a look at Codamon and they all came bouncing over "Yay, Codamon's here!" they all said.

One Poromon asked "What are these things your with?"

"I can't tell you, it's a super secret." He told them in a joking way "Why don't you talk to them?" Immediately they all came bouncing over and staring at us. It was so cute I couldn't stand it, I bent over and picked one up, he squealed.

"No, it's Ok, they're good guys." Codamon said. The Koromon I picked up smiled and began staring at me. K bent over and started playing with a DemiVeemon, one of the most cute Digimon ever.

"Oh my god, they're so cute." She said. Gotsumon was covered by adoring In-training Digimon, Nick was playing with them too. Even Fatomon was patting one of them. The only one who wasn't was Matt, he seemed so strange recently. I took the Koromon and walked over to Matt, held it up to him. "Come on, you know you want to." I said. The Koromon jumped out of my hands and onto Matt's face, kiss-attacking him. Matt fought for a while, but the Koromon came off on his own and bounced away.

"Ohhh, I think he likes you a little bit." I said.

"Yeah, a little." Matt said, he was still a little deep, I'd have to make him crack, get him to laugh. After our In-Training fun-fest was over I realized Codamon had gone and was returning now.

"I got us reservations at the Inn, we can stay here tonight." Said Codamon. By now we were all very tired, I almost fell asleep on Herpetomon walking. We were led away from the clearing and into a side alley. We came to the 'Inn' sign and entered into a dimly lit lobby. A Floramon was behind the desk.

"Your room is all ready upstairs." She said in a sweet voice.

"You go ahead." Said Codamon "It's my duty to patrol the area and look out for any Alice-M Digimon. I'll meet you in your room tomorrow."

"Oh, Ok, later. And be careful." I said. He swiftly left through the door and my party went upstairs. I hadn't realized it before, but my RPG dreams had been realized. I am now the leader of a 'party' cool. We went up a flight of stairs and down a hall, took a left and there it was. Four beds, 2 against either wall. We all quickly got to our beds. Half of us just landed face down on them. Then something hit me

"Hey, Wait." I said to everyone "How do we know when it's nighttime? It's been the same color outside all day."

"You'll see in a sec." Gotsumon spoke up. We waited, looking around shiftily. Then, all of a sudden it was dark out. Out the window a wave of darkness was spreading night across the horizon.

"Oh…Ok, well that was new." Nick said. We all just gave up and went to bed. It was crowded though. Especially for Nick, I don't envy him having to sleep crammed next to Fatomon's armor. We fell asleep soon anyway. Our first night in the Digital world.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 18: The Gist**

We were awoken by a crash outside the building. "Help, we need help." Someone yelled outside the door. I woke up to see I was the last one up. Herpetomon was shaking me and everyone was drowsy. When I heard more cries I was up like a shot.

"Come on, let's go check it out." I said. There was panic in the hotel, Digimon running around everywhere. I bent down to the Koromon from before

"Hey, what's going on?" I asked.

"There are some evil Digimon coming this way, I hear they are working for Alice-M!" The Koromon said "Codamon is going to fight, but there are 4 of them, I don't know if he can take them all."

"Well, that's what we're here for." Nick said behind me. We made our way to the clearing in the middle of town, being careful not to kick any of the in-trainings. Sure enough we saw Codamon standing alone in the center. In the distance I could see 4 Digimon coming towards us. We came up on either side of Codamon, except Matt who stayed behind him.

"We'll back you up." I said. He looked down

"Alright, but be careful." He said. I took out my D-Gadget and waited for the Digimon to come into range.

"Hooo boy. There are 4 Tyrannomon bounding down that hill, great." I said "Champions."

"This isn't going to be easy." Fatomon said. Drawing his sword. "I already know we're going to need to so let's Digivolve."

:Digivolution Activate:

"Herpetomon digivolve too…!"

"Skymon"

-

"Fatomon digivolve too…!"

"Castimon"

-

"Gotsumon digivolve too…!"

"Icemon"

Codamon looked around at our Champions "So these are the champions? Not bad." Then he looked back to Matt who looked so sad and alone.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you." Codamon said. Matt was suddenly beaming.

The Tyrannomon had reached the limits and the battle was about to begin.

"Ok, now, I want everyone to take one of the Tyrannomon and stick to him." I instructed.

"For Alice-M, for Alice-M, for Alice-M! " The Tyrannomon began to chant.

"RRRaaagh." Skymon shouted as he pounced on the nearest one. His eyes were even greener than normal. I assumed it was because he was surrounded by Digimon so seeing an evil one makes him especially alert. Ultimately though, I couldn't know the reason why. Skymon pounced the Trannomon into the ground then jumped up and used "Lizard Claw" on his foe. The Tyrannomon which was stuck in the hole was hit hard by the blast, he managed to get up slowly. Skymon landed and became embraced in a hand-in-hand struggle with him. Meanwhile Icemon had knocked down another Tyrannomon with his "Ice Bomb". The Tyrannomon got up and used his "Blaze Blast" on Icemon, who, by putting his ice covered hands together was able to block most of the damage, but was blown away by the blast. His Tyrannomon came over and grabbed him by the leg and began whipping him around, then he threw him into a nearby house, hopefully none of the Digimon inside were hurt. Codamon was messing with his Tyrannomon, dodging his every attack. While Skymon was handling ours I watched Codamon to see his attack. The Tyrannomon swiped at him and tried to grab him, but Codamon jumped to the side. Two gadgets on both of his shoulders popped up, they looked like some kind of laser turrets.

"Laser Dynamo" He called and the turrets began launching green rays at the Tyrannomon, then they began moving up and down, covering him in laser fire. This amazing show of power stopped the fight momentarily. The Tyrannomon Codamon was fighting was totally gone at the end of the assault.

"Get Him." The lead Tyrannomon told the others.

"But Boss, we're supposed to kill the humans." One of them said.

"Shut up and kill Codamon instead." The leader said. All of he Tyrannomon who were fighting our Digimon began to head for Codamon instead. Castimon's got away, Icemon's did too, but before Skymon's Tyrannomon could get away he grabbed his arm and yanked him down. "Oh no you don't!" Skymon said. Skymon continued to thrash our Tyrannomon who was nearly defeated, but I was more worried about Codamon. The two Tyrannomon came from either side of him. They were charging him. When they were just far enough away from each other Codamon jumped out of the way. The Tyrannomon tried to stop, but they couldn't, so they ran into each other and fell. Meanwhile Codamon had pulled out more of his gadgets. Several shafts that looked like gun barrels came out of his legs.

"Scatter Slug!" He called, suddenly the barrels began spinning and oscillating and then began launching huge shells at the Tyrannomon. Giant bullets, must have been an inch wide. There was an immense flash given off at every shot. The two Tyrannomon were defeated halfway through the attack. We were all stunned for a while. Codamon's attacks were brilliant. After a moment of silence a flock of rookies and in-trainings came up to us, shouting praises. "Yay, Codamon was so cool." "The D-Corps saved us!" "Take that, Alice-M." were among the cries. I walked up to Codamon who was surrounded by bouncing fans.

"Wow, that was pretty incredible." I said. "Are you really only a champion?"

"Yes, it's true, but I'm stranger and have more attacks than most." He said. He bent down and began playing with his fans, they bounced up and down on his back.

I walked back to the group who also had many praising Digimon following them. We all came together and stood behind Codamon.

"I can't believe how strong he is." I said to the group.

"I know, be beat 3 out of for of them. And those attacks were insane." Matt said. I could tell he admired him. We continued to discuss the fight until we saw a Digimon walk up to Codamon. Because everyone else quieted down I assumed it was the mayor or something. It was a very old-looking Gabumon. He hobbled up to Codamon so we moved up and went to his sides.

"Hello again Gabumon." Codamon said. "These are the heroes I told you about." He nodded his head at us.

"Ah, very good, thank you all for defending our town. We would never have been able to stop them on our own." He explained.

"It was our pleasure." Codamon said smiling.

"I wish we could repay you, but we don't have much to give." Gabumon said.

"No, don't worry about it, it's my job." Codamon said. "Actually we have to be going."

"Alright, well, good luck. And thank you again." Gabumon said. Codamon began walking away we had our Digimon digivolve back and then we followed him. It was still dark out, but we moved on.

"Is anybody else really tired?" Matt said. He was starting to stumble, and he fell over. We stopped and I helped him up, he had passed out.

"Wow, must've been too much for him, everything that's been happening." I said.

"Don't worry, here, put him on my back, I'll carry him." Codamon said. I did as he asked. We were now walking up another dirt road, there was a fork up ahead. Both paths led into a dense forest. When we lazily reached the fork the light came out. Like the darkness had come last night, light simply began to cover the area. It was beautiful. I could see light covering all of the forest, and the sky became the unusual blue that it was yesterday.

"So, Codamon, which way do we go?" I asked.

"We want to go left, it's longer, but it should be less dangerous. We believe Alice-M's headquarters are someplace to the right of here, so left would be wiser. Hub Tower is right past this forest, in another village. The forest is very large, so we may have to sleep in it, but only for one night." Codamon explained.

"Alright, well then, let's go!" Herpetomon said.

"Pssh, that's my line." I said.

"Whatever, Let's go!" He said again.

"Fine." I said. So we took our first steps in the dreary forest. At the entrance there was an arch of trees welcoming us, somehow it felt very foreboding.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 19: Shocking Development**

Character Shift: **Matt** –Date , Second day in the Digital world-

I awoke to the sound of buzzing nearby. I felt like I was floating. I opened my eyes slowly because it was so bright outside. I was laying on Codamon's back, which explained the floating sensation. I could tell he was walking carefully to not disturb me. I lifted my head up wearily to find I had a horrible headache. Codamon turned his head. I tried to speak, but my throat was froggy.

"Don't worry, I've got you." He said quietly. I just smiled and put my head back down. I wasn't worthy of his kindness. He's a big hero here, I'm just a nobody, don't even have a Digimon like the others. They're all so cool. I looked back at the others, they were behind Codamon and I. I coughed a little, cleared my throat and said. "Codamon, where are we?"

"We're on our way to Hub Tower still. Are you feeling any better?" He asked

"Yeah, thanks for carrying me, sorry if I'm causing you guys trouble. I wish I could help out." I said. Our adventure had only begun, but I felt like I was holding everybody back.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll find your Digimon soon." He said.

I put my head down on his back, then it hit me "Will you be my Digimon?" I asked him.

"Well, I would if I could, but it doesn't really work that way." Codamon said. "It's hard to explain. The person and the digimon really have to connect to become partners."

"Oh, Ok." I said, disheartened. I didn't quite understand what it would take, but I was willing to wait. I was beginning to feel more and more awake. I was able to sit up and get a good look of the forest.

"Hey, you feeling better?" Nick said from behind me. The rest of the group came up from behind

"Yeah, a little better. I don't know what happened I just passed out." I told them.

"Maybe you can't handle this." Gotsumon said, making me feel even worse. Brendan 'shushed' him.

"Nah, he can handle it, you just didn't get enough sleep right?" Herpetomon said.

"Yeah, I was just tired." I said. It was nice of them to try and help. The forest seemed like it would never end, there were trees all around us as far as I could see. We were walking down a lightly trodden path. Up ahead of us I could see a small clearing. I put my head back down on the back of Codamon's head. His fur was warm and it felt nice. I could hear the whirring of his gears and mechanics too which was cool. Soon we reached the opening to find a small river flowing by on the left and there were some rocks nearby. Brendan walked up ahead of us.

"Can we afford to take a break for a minute?" He asked Codamon.

"Yeah, but we have to hurry, I don't want to be in this forest any longer than we have to." He said. Then he turned to me. "Are you Ok to get down now?" He asked "Yeah, thanks again." I said. I was sad to get off though. It felt nice to be up there, felt empowering. Codamon knelt down and I got off and walked over to the river. The others were catching their breath. Fatomon was leaning against the rocks, Brendan, Herpetomon, Nick, Kayla, and Gotsumon were coming over to me. I decided to wash off in the lake a little. I bent over it and washed my face. The water felt nice. B had been looking around the woods, he had his thinking face on.

"Hey, Codamon, I just noticed something, why aren't I hungry or thirsty?" He said.

"Because in the Digital world we are all made up of data. Data doesn't need nourishment so you don't need to eat or drink. You can if you want, but it won't do much." Codamon explained.

"This place just gets weirder and weirder" Kayla said.

"Everybody ready to move on?" Brendan asked. We all got up and moved towards him, we were all ready. We headed off in the opposite direction of where we had come in. We were all refreshed now and we moved on briskly. I was feeling really relaxed now, I felt comforted from being up on Codamon. I watched him from behind, admiring his strength and swift movement. He's so cool, I wish he could be mine.

Our walk continued for what felt like hours. It felt like it was getting to be late. I wasn't as tired as before and even if I was I wasn't going to let it hold me back. It was starting to get cold out too, causing the leaves to crunch under our feet. Suddenly Herpetomon got all stiff like he usually does when a Digimon was around.

"Where are they?" Brendan asked him. Herpetomon pointed ahead of us. Sure enough after a second we say three small specks approaching occasionally they'd let off a huge spark of lightning.

"I've got it." Nick said, he took out his Digivice and looked over the display. "Thundermon. They are tiny little balls of energy. They're champions. Looks like there are three of them."

They approached quickly, the flew and darted about more quickly than my senses could follow. The approached us and began messing with us, they darted around us in a circle. Then they began to reverberate "You can't stop us. And even if you do, you'll never defeat Alice-M" The circular motion they were traveling gave their voices an electric and awkward sound.

"Alice-M?" Fatomon said. He drew his sword, Herpetomon got ready to slash, and Gotsumon grabbed a nearby rock. Fatomon slashed and missed, same with Herpetomon, and Gotsumon's rock missed it's target. Then the Thundermon converged on them and began generating electricity shocking the Digimon inside. Codamon, the other humans, and I were outside helpless.

"Wait, the flare!" K said.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot." Brendan said. They all held up their Digivices and said "Flare activate!" Then there was a huge burst of light from inside the sphere of electricity. This light blew the Thundermon away, leaving the three Digimon inside glowing and ready for payback. The Thundermon were spinning air from the light and were reeling. Fatomon jumped towards the nearest one and slashed it furiously, it was sent into the ground. Fatomon continued to stab at it, but the thing was up and beginning to dart around again. Gotsumon had grabbed onto one of the Thundermon, it tried to shock him, but Gotsumon was unfazed

"Rock beats thunder." Gotsumon said and threw him into the Thundermon Fatomon was fighting. Herpetomon whose speed was augmented by the Flare began slashing and clawing wildly at the Thundermon. It wasn't able to dodge them all. It was incredible how quickly and strongly Herpetomon's slashes were. It was a flurry of slashes and swipes. Then he charged up for a big one. "Lizard Claw!" He called and gave a great green slash that blew the Thundermon away into a cloud of data.

"Yeah, Herpetomon that's the way it's done." B said cheering him on. But the flare began to wear off and the Digimon weren't fast enough to stop them all. The Thundermon began to dodge and shock them again. The two remaining Thundermon went back into their spiraling pattern. They shocked Herpetomon and Fatomon and went in for kicks and punches with Gotsumon. Codamon stepped into the mix.

"I had a feeling I'd need this sooner or later." He said. He began to flip up turrets and barrels all over his mechanics. I'd never seen so many weapon systems in one place, he was a walking arsenal. This would be a big attack.

"Bravado!" Codamon yelled. Then he began launching bullets, lasers, small rockets, and explosives out at the Thundermon. I could tell he was taking care to not hit the Digimon inside, or the rest of us, but it was a tremendous attack. Soon after the light of all of the explosions blinded us. We all looked away except for Codamon whose visor protected him from the light. When the firing stopped we looked in at the Digimon who were huddling together. All traces of the Thundermon were completely blown away by the intense burst of artillery. We went in and helped up the Digimon who had been badly shocked and were hurting. We were beginning to walk away, speechless of the outstanding attack we just witnessed. Just as we turned away from the battle site Herpetomon yelled. "Look out!" and pointed behind me. There was some shady character in the woods that I couldn't make out, but he was accumulating some kind of energy attack. I began to run away, Codamon was running towards me. "Get down!" he yelled, so I ducked down in the ground just in time for him to get in the way of the blast. It was a lightning quick flash of energy. The blast hit Codamon square in the chest and he flew back and landed right in front of me. The shady character had disappeared into the woods and we were too surprised to give chase.

"Codamon! Are you Ok? Come on, get up." I said to him. He was badly hurt in his chest. I knelt over him and began to feel like my only chance of getting a Digimon was slipping away. I was sure he was my Digimon. "No, No, Codamon!" I yelled, and a flash of light began to appear in front of me. Slowly the light began to take a shape. It was forming a Digivice, like the others had. Instinct told me it was mine, and that could only mean, Codamon really was my partner. When I took the D-Gadget in my hand a similar light came around Codamon, he was lifted up and his wound began to heal. He spun around in the air once and then slowly landed in front of me. We stared at each other for who knows how long. It was an incredible feeling. It was like we could see into each other's souls, an awesome connection to one another.

"Thanks." Codamon said softly.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 20: Joyeaux**

Return Shift: **Brendan Mehu** –Present, second day in The Digital world-

There was a moment of shock and awe about what had just happened. We all knew Matt would get a partner sooner or later. I just never expected it to be Codamon. Matt got up and stood next to Codamon, it was the happiest I'd seen him since we came to the Digital world. We all walked over to see how they were.

"So, I guess you guys are hitched now huh?" said K. I chuckled, whether it was a joke or not.

"Yeah, I guess so." Matt said looking at Codamon.

"That's great though, now we'll be an even stronger force. So, we've got Kayla and Gotsumon, Nick and Fatomon, Matt and Codamon, and Herpetomon and I, Awesome. Tamers and partners doing it for themselves." I said enthusiastically. As Enthusiastic as it sounded, I, as well as the rest of the group was very tired from the fight and the walk.

"Well, that's great, but I say we stay here for the night." Said Nick.

"Yeah, good idea." Said Codamon.

"Fine, we'll stay here for tonight then go until we reach that city tomorrow." I said. The darkness hadn't come around yet so we decided to just sit around until it did. K, Gotsumon, Herpetomon and I were sitting by the same tree. Across the path Fatomon was leaning on a tree and Nick, Matt, and Codamon were sitting around it. The path was long on either side of us; I could barely make out the end. However in the distance I could make out a very faint spike reaching into the sky, I took this to be Hub Tower.

"Man, it's so weird not having to eat anything." Matt said.

"You get used to it." Fatomon said.

"Yeah, sure, but it's still weird." Matt said.

"Yes, very odd!" I yelled unnecessarily across to them. K laughed.

"Oh, that reminds me, what do you think of these crests?" I asked everyone.

"I like them." Herpetomon said.

"I know you like them, I was asking my fellow tamers." I said and stuck my tongue out at him.

"Pretty cool, you know I'd get strength." Nick said. He turned and hit Fatomon in the leg. Those two have a weird relationship.

"Right. I think so too, but I don't see why I got Sincerity, I don't do too much to help out." Kayla said.

"Well, with crests it doesn't matter how much you help out, it has to do with the person that you are. I haven't known you for that long, but you seem like a pretty sincere girl." Codamon said. K blushed a little.

"I'm happy with mine. I think I'm pretty joyous, right?" I said.

"Yeah, you are." Nick said.

"Well, kind of." Said Kayla, Herpetomon was nodding with her.

"Whaddya mean?" I asked

"Well sometimes you get so serious, and angry. You aren't very happy then, but most of the time you are." She said.

"Right." I assumed she was talking about my fight with Nick, and maybe some other things. I assumed this had to do with Herpetomon's 'dark side' and mine I decided to wait until we reached the sovereign to ask about the alert-mode problem. Just then the darkness swept past.

"Damn, I'll never get used to that." Matt said.

"Well, time for…bed." I said. I sat next to Herpetomon and we leaned on each others shoulders. K sat with Gotsumon in her lap. Matt laid back and rested his head on Codamon's back. And Nick sat back to back with Fatomon.

"Good night Herpetomon, good night Kayla, good night Gotsumon, good night Nick, good night Fatomon, good night---" I began to whisper out loud to everyone.

"Shut up and go to sleep!" K said.

"Aww man." I said. Some chuckled, or maybe it was snoring.

I was the first one up in the morning. I opened my eyes and peeked around. It was still dark, but I could feel the morning would be coming on soon. I decided to get up, but Herpetomon was sleeping on my shoulder. I moved his head so it was resting on the tree instead and I got up.

"Couldn't sleep?" Herpetomon said. I turned around and he was already wide awake.

"What's with you?" I said. "Have you been up that whole time?"

"Yeah, I've just been :yawn: resting my eyes." He said.

"Well whatever. Isn't this awesome? We're here, living my dream." I said.

"Yeah, I know. I still can't wait to see, or, be my Ultimate. And I can't wait to ask the sovereign all of our questions." Herpetomon said. Suddenly the wave of light swept across the land, banishing the darkness.

"Well, time to go." I said. I went around waking up those who weren't aroused by the impromptu sunlight. Some resisted, but most woke up easily.

"Ok, come on, let's get moving." I said. I was full of energy so I led the rest of the group. Kayla kept complaining that her neck hurt, among other things. I couldn't blame her, I'm sure we were all aching from sleeping outside. Not to mention the fight yesterday.

"Codamon how much longer do you think until we reach the city?" Matt asked his partner.

"Not much farther I think, I had to come down this way to get you and it seems like we're very close." He responded.

"I think I can see it actually." I said. As we turned with a bend in the forest I could spot the tower again and in front of it I could make out tall buildings, a real city.

"Hey Codamon, will the Sovereign be at the Hub Tower?" Herpetomon asked.

"I'm not sure. They may be too busy to come to Mainland and assist. We'll have to wait and see. Why" Codamon said.

"We have some questions for them." I said butting in.

"Well, fair enough." Codamon said. We were finally nearing the city. In it I saw some real city bustling, but it was strange seeing a city full of Digimon. All of us except Fatomon and Codamon, who'd obviously been here before, were surprised at the sheer size of the city. It seems like the forest literally ended at the city. We took one step and we were in the forest and on the next step we were on a sidewalk. There were roads all around, but no cars. The only machinery I could see was some kind of train up ahead. The buildings were all quite large and looked like skyscrapers, but I noticed they weren't as large as ones in the real-world. Before we'd taken 3 steps out of the forest Codamon already had a fan-club of little Digimon fan-boys following him around. They asked about his missions and what he was doing in the city, but Codamon said that he couldn't tell them.

"Alright, I'm sorry, but we have work to do, goodbye." Codamon said and began walking away. His fans watched with total admiration when Codamon left.

"Hey, when are we going to have a fan-club?" Nick asked.

"When we save the world, Ok? Only people who save the world get fan-clubs." I said and laughed at myself. We walked by food stands with Digimon calling

"Fresh fruit here." I just didn't know why they were selling fruit if you don't need to eat in the Digital world. Well, you don't need to eat, but why not, right? We also passed stored with various and accessories and things for Digimon, it was kind of funny. I recognized so many Digimon, I saw a Palmon, a group of Biyomon walking around, and even an Angemon or two. It was a totally new experience for me, for all of the humans. I was really enjoying it. We came to a big 4-way intersection, but still I saw no cars. There was the tower straight ahead. Suddenly on the skyscraper to the right of us I saw a bolt of darkness strike. It was a sudden bolt of dark energy that hit the building. Some of the Digimon ran, some stayed to see what would happen. When the darkness cleared we could see a large, dark form attached to the building. It looked like some kind of beast Digimon, wolf-like, only I couldn't tell whether it was flesh or something else. It looked like its body was purely made up of dark energy.

"What is that thing?" I asked Codamon.

"I don't know, I've never seen anything like that before." Codamon said. The other Digimon agreed. The Beast Digimon then began running down the building towards some Digimon who were running away at the bottom. Then, from it's miasma body it grew two sharp tentacle-like appendages that grew down like scythes and destroyed about 9 Digimon easily. The Beast was now standing on the ground.

"I don't know who he is, but any Digimon who could just do something like that must be with Alice-M." Kayla said. I was speechless, he came like a reaper and destroyed innocence. I wouldn't stand for it. I took out my D-Gadget.

"His name is Ruhemon." I said "Ultimate level, wait, what, His attribute is unknown. This is no normal Digimon." The beast had turned to us and began to head for us slowly. Some of the Digimon who decided to stay were about to charge him when Codamon yelled "Stop!"

"Please, leave now, this does not concern you and we don't need anyone else getting hurt, please go, we'll handle this." Codamon said. The Digimon though for a while, and then followed Codamon's order and retreated. Leaving the 8 of us and him.

"Herpetomon Go!" I yelled. I hadn't noticed it, but Herpetomon was savagely alert this time, it probably had something to do with this unknown Digimon, Ruhemon. While Herpetomon was running up to Ruhemon, Fatomon, Codamon, and Gotsumon were all sent out also. Herpetomon reached Ruhemon and began slashing at I to no avail. Fatomon came also, but the slashing of his sword did nothing, it phased through the monster. Same with Gotsumon, his punches did nothing.

"Stop, now!" Codamon said. Ruhemon disregarded him and continued to approach us. Codamon began flipping up his arsenal while the other Digimon retreated.

"Laser Dynamo!" Codamon called and began unloading on Ruhemon. Ruhemon stopped moving, but the laser shots were travelling right through him. Codamon looked distressed. Ruhemon began growing new scythe like arms. He slashed one at Codamon, the blade phased through his, but we could still feel the impact of it. The Dark scythe had gone through him, but it still harmed him. Codamon's attack stopped and he fell to his side. Then Ruhemon began bolting around like he had come originally. He bolted behind Fatomon first. "Fatomon!." I yelled, too late, he began to turn around, but he was already hit. The same scythe attack as before. Fatomon crumpled to the ground. The Ruhemon darted behind Gotsumon who saw the attack coming. Gotsumon Jumped away when Ruhemon came behind him, but he had anticipated this before Ruhemon even stopped he had darted in front of Gotsumon, swung his scythe and Gotsumon simply fell to the ground. Next Ruhemon went for Herpetomon. Herpetomon had covered his hands in his green miasma for his "Lizard Claw" attack. Ruhemon's scythe came for him, but Herpetomon put his hands in front of the swing. Somehow Herpetomon had stopped his attack. Herpetomon hadn't been struck like the others, but he was still knocked back from the force of the attack. The others had run to their Digimon who were all unconscious.

"I'm sorry, I should've had you Digivolve." Nick said to Fatomon. K was carrying Gotsumon and Matt was tending to Codamon. I went up to Herpetomon and helped him up.

"Looks like it's just you and me again." I said, putting my hand on his shoulder, "Let's do this." Herpetomon growled in response.

: Digivolution Activate:

"Herpetomon Digivolve too…!"

"Skymon."

Skymon stomped on the ground while Ruhemon paused. Ruhemon went for another slash, but Skymon covered his hands in his miasma and the attack was deflected. This time Skymon only flinched a little. Ruhemon retracted his scythe arms and Skymon jumped into the air and called "Lizard Claw!" The green beam came down on top of Ruhemon and crushed him into the ground. Skymon landed and Ruhemon's darkness had dissipated into small clouds of dark energy. Suddenly these small clouds came together and began reforming Ruhemon.

"Oh come on, this is hopeless." Nick said.

"No! Nothing is hopeless!" I said. Ruhemon had fully reformed and was standing in front of Skymon who had his hands covered in green to protect himself. Then Ruhemon teleported away. None of us saw where. Suddenly beneath Skymon a pool of darkness was created. It began to swallow him up. Slowly.

"Skymon, what's going on? Can you move?" I asked.

"No, he's got me." Skymon said, his eyes still glowing. Suddenly, above where Skymon was now sinking a new portal was opened and Skymon's legs were sticking out of it. Something was wrong with the picture. Ruhemon had just opened a new dimension or something.

"What the fuck?" Matt said looking over. Skymon was sinking into the ground and coming out of this portal at the same time. Once he had completely come out of the portal he fell to the ground, Ruhemon must have used the scythe on him many times in this other dimension. Meanwhile Ruhemon himself suddenly appeared in front of us. I ran to Skymon's side. He wasn't moving, his eyes were closed

"N, n, no, it cannot end this way. Skymon, please get up, we need you." I said He struggled to get up. Slowly he made progress. He rose until he was standing upright.

"Skymon…" I said.

"I feel it." He said. I noticed my D-Gadget was rumbling. I took it out and looked at the screen, the icon of my crest, the crest of joy was glowing.

"Oh, I understand. No, this is no problem for us." I said smiling. "Things look grim, but we are going to win this fight and that's all there is to it. Just keep smiling!" I yelled. Suddenly the D-Gadget shone brilliantly.

"That's it, The joy!"

:Digivolution activate:

"Skymon Digivolve too…!"

Skymon jumped in the air and began rotating horizontally. His pants were stripped off and were replaced with strong silver armor. Up his body he also attained a silver breastplate for his chest. His shoulders became more muscular and armor covered his arms as well. His feet were left outside the armor, but they had become larger as well to accommodate for all of the new armor. And once again he gained another finger, giving him as many as a human has. Lastly a great silver pole appeared in front of him when he put out his hand and grabbed it a white light traced up the pole and reached it's head, then the light curved off the top and began taking the shape of a lance. When the light had returned to the pole the new digimon was holding a full size lance as his weapon.

"ArmorSkymon!" He said! Herpetomon's ultimate, ArmorSkymon landed in front of us with a crash. He stood tall with his lance at his side. Ruhemon hesitated.

"Nice, our first ultimate." Nick said with Fatomon who'd recovered enough to sit up.

"He's so shiny, he's like, bling." K said smiling.

"That's good, keep up the joy!" I said laughing. ArmorSkymon took the first action. He raised up his lance and then pounded the bottom of it on the ground, shaking it up and causing Ruhemon to fall. Then ArmorSkymon lifted up his lance and called "Green Lancet!" The head of his lance became covered in the same green miasma as with his previous forms. He brought the lance into both his hands and charged at Ruhemon. The green lance left a shadow in its trail. Then ArmorSkymon brought the lance down on Ruhemon . The blade cut right through him and crashed into the ground on the other side. Ruhemon's split halves stumbled around for a moment and then, even after being split by the new weapon he began to come together again. ArmorSkymon draw his lance out of the ground and stood strong once again. Ruhemon recovered and created four scythes this time. He ran at ArmorSkymon with full force. ArmorSkymon continued to stand strong. Then Ruhemon brought down his scythes upon ArmorSkymon'' armor. There was no affect. Ruhemon's scythes had fallen to pieces when they clashed with his armor.

"Heh, ChromeDigizoid." ArmorSkymon said smiling menacingly down at him." Ruhemon back off from him for a few steps. Without warning he bolted again, behind Nick, Kayla, and their incapacitated Digimon. He quickly drew a scythe and slashed, only to have his scythes broken again by clashing with ArmorSkymon's lance.

"Yeah, that's ChromeDigizoid too." ArmorSkymon said, his eyes flaring green. Ruhemon sneered at ArmorSkymon and then began sinking into a pool of his own darkness, he was retreating, but we weren't in much condition to destroy him, not yet. Even ArmorSkymon was beginning to kneel down. Once Ruhemon disappeared we could finally relax about it.

"Well what was that all about?" Nick said.

"I don't know, we've never heard of a Digimon like that before." Codamon said.

"Yes, something was very wrong with that thing. I think we should just get to the Tower." I said. "Is everyone Ok?" Codamon was beginning to stand again, Fatomon was leaning on Nick's shoulder, and K was still holding Gotsumon. "Good." I said and began walking. I remembered that ArmorSkymon couldn't go back to being Herpetomon for now so I took advantage and made him carry me. I sat in his right hand and we slowly made our way up to the edge of the city. At the edge of the city we found that there was a hole dug at the perimeter of the tower. That is to say, a large circle dug in the ground around the Tower. The tower itself was very large, but looked more like a citadel. It had some kind of elevator at the bottom and at the top there was some kind of platform. In front of the elevator an Elecmon slept. We approached. The Elecmon woke up and saw us all.

"Oh, Hello Codamon, these are the ones?" He said

"Yes, this is them." Codamon answered.

"Alright, go ahead." The Elecmon said. He stepped aside and allowed us in.

The elevator was a large pad at the bottom of the tower. We were barely able to fit. Once we were in Elecmon hit a switch and were sent up to the platform.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 21: Answers**

When we reached the top a bright burst of sunlight welcomed us. It was windy at the top and, once the sunlight cleared, we could see for miles. I could see all the way to the forest we'd left this morning, and in the other direction I could just make out an ocean. We stepped off the platform and wandered around looking. There was a ceiling above us that was held up by support beams.

"It's about time you got here." A voice said from behind. We turned to see a MagnaAngemon leaning against one of the supports the held up the ceiling.

"Oh MagnaAngemon, why are you here?" Codamon asked.

"I just thought I'd come and see what all the fuss is about, everyone at the core is talking about our saviors here." MagnaAngemon said pointing to us.

"Alright then, this is them." Codamon said and went about introducing us to him. He came up and shook our hands, I found this odd because I thought that was a mainly human custom, but I let it drop.

"Well it's nice to meet you all, I can't wait to see what you can do, I'm sure you'll all be crucial in the fight against Alice-M. Now, I should leave before the Sovereign arrive, I've heard all of this already." He said. Then he gave a wave and drifted off the platform with his great wings.

"How many Digimon are on the D-Corps?" Kayla asked.

"Counting myself there are 5 elites, and we have about 20 soldier units." Codamon said.

"Oh Ok." K said. Just then I saw a blue streak heading toward us. Instantly I was reminded of the streak that had caught us when we came to the Digital world.

"Hey look at that." Matt said. We looked over and saw a gigantic white form coming at us from the opposite direction as the blue streak. Then to the South we saw a flaming red form with wings approaching. And lastly, from the North a Massive creature covered in a green aura was slowly approaching. I looked around at the creatures who had just arrived. The most brilliant Digimon I'd ever seen. The blue one, I made out to be Azulongmon, was the Dragon. His body was that of a long winding blue serpent, his skin was a misty and covered in a blue aura.. He had a few sets of arms and his whole form was also bound with many winding chains. His face was covered in some kind of face plate. He had four eyes, red in color. Just looking into his eyes made me feel frightened and comforted at the same time. The white creature from the West arrived also, standing on the ground his face was level to us on the tower. He was a gigantic Tiger type Digimon, Baihumon. His face was similar to Azulongmon's, He had four eyes and wore a face covering. His body was totally white except for his light purple stripes. Also, when I looked down at his midsection I could see that there was a series of solid white orbs circling his chest, odd. Next the fiery bird Digimon came up, Zhuqiaomon. He was essentially a phoenix in every way. I giant majestic bird covered in flame. Like the others he wore a facemask over his long beak, four eyes like the others. Lastly the large green Digimon came laboring up to the tower. All I could see was a huge tree coming towards us. It wasn't till I looked over and saw the turtle with two heads underneath. Once it reached the tower it lifted its two heads up to the platform. This could only be Ebonwumon. After they'd arrived we figured out the use of the circle around the perimeter. A giant dome shot out from it and we were protected and concealed from the outside. Finally we literally came face to face with the legendary sovereign we'd heard about. In the presence of these holy creatures the humans were too overwhelmed to speak and our digimon were too humbled to move.

"Tamers, meet The Sovereign." Codamon said. We were still hesitant. Slowly I came to my senses. As scary as they were they also embodied sanctity in the Digital world, I took a step foreword towards Azulongmon.

"Hello, you are the one who saved us when we first came to the Digital world, weren't you?" I asked. Azulongmon gave somewhat of a smile.

"I thought you were all unconscious. Yes, it was I. I couldn't have our saviors dying before the battle even got started could I?" He said in a booming voice. I felt some kind of connection to Azulongmon somehow.

"Now! Let us discuss things." Zhuqiaomon said in an equally ominous voice. "Humans, you were brought to the Digital world to assist us with halting a great evil. The force called Alice-M came to power almost overnight. It has been terrorizing many communities and has even destroyed some. We know little about the structure of the group, we have a covert member of the D-Corps, Mimon on the inside. From the information he has gathered it appears there is a main leader, a small group ultimate level Digimon whom he controls, and numerous minions." We all listened to the tale. We all had questions I'm sure, but none of us dared interrupt.

"Yes, that is where you come in." Baihumon began. "From the information gathered by Mimon it appears Alice-M is planning on making an attack on Gazitown, a small village of Gazimon near where you first arrived here. Many of Alice-M's targets have been on immature villages such as ''Opolis'' where the residents are mainly weak digimon, or on villages where many virus type digimon live. We believe that Alice-M is planning on either recruiting or brainwashing these digimon into joining them. For right now, your mission is to go and stop the attack on Gazitown."

"However you won't be alone, there is another Tamer waiting there for you." Azulongmon said.

"Wait, another tamer?" Nick asked, somehow I knew he'd be the first to speak up.

"Yes, she came in with Protagamon last night. The reason you didn't know about her was she was operating far from you three who live very close to each other. I won't tell you who she is, that would ruin the surprise." Azulongmon explained dryly.

"Yes, another one." Nick said to himself.

"We'd like for you to leave as soon as possible for Gazitown, but I see you and your digimon are hurt. Allow us to help." Azulongmon said. Azulongmon's eyes began to glow red, the same happened with the eyes of the other Sovereign. Suddenly I began to feel like all of the aches in my body were slipping away. I looked around at the others, they were all starting to stand up straight again. Armor Skymon picked up his lance and put it its pole end on the ground, holding up the blade side. Then the Sovereign began to return to normal.

"Wow, thanks." Gotsumon said. "I feel like a million bucks." The Sovereign looked pleased.

"Now, I'm sure you have a few questions for us." Azulongmon said.

"Yes, I have one. Why was it my friends and I were chosen to do this, there must be other tamers out there." I asked.

"There are other tamers in the Real world, but they aren't as strong as the three of you are." Azulongmon began to explain.

"Actually, my lord, it's the four of them, this is my new partner, Matt." Codamon said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there, congratulations." Azulongmon began. "Nonetheless, you three were the stronger of the tamers in the real world. You may not have been the strongest physically, but you fought with such passion and meaning. Aside from your strength we did have a reason for bringing you in particular to help us. The reason is a prophecy. In an underwater cave, just South of Ebonwumon's realm there was a secret inscription in the rock. It was said to have been inscribed by the ancient prophetic entity known as Olmon. He was also credited with the prophecy that us, The Sovereign would eventually arrive. The inscription in the cave told of a great disaster, that an unknown enemy would appear and shake the foundations of not only the Digital world, but the Real one. It also told of four heroes, and their Digimon. The first pair described is Joy, a Troubled Duo, the next pair is Strength, a Noble Duo, next is Sincerity, a Caring Duo, and lastly is Love, a Desolate Duo. When we saw Tamers with traits such as those we kept an eye on you until the time came to bring you here."

"So this other Tamer has the crest of Love?" Kayla asked. Azulongmon turned to Ebonwumon.

"Yes, this is where we originally learned the idea of Crests." Ebonwumon said, "Once we learned about them we forged the ones you carry so that they would augment the strength of your Digimon. Each one of us chose one crest to enhance. Kayla, I did yours. Nick, Zhuqiaomon did yours, Brendan, Azulongmon did yours, and Baihumon did the other tamer's crest of love."

"Don't you know her name?" I asked.

Ebonwumon turned and said, "Actually you know each other. That's the funny thing, all of the Tamers of the prophecy have been connected to you. I think it's just a coincidence though."

"All connected to me, that's so cool." I said, smiling to myself

"Brendan, don't you have another question for us?" Azulongmon said. Now I knew that they had been watching us, more closely than I thought. I was kind of embarrassed to ask about the alert-mode in front of everyone so ArmorSkymon and I walked up to Azulongmon seeing as how he powered up my crest I felt like we had some kind of connection with him. The others stood behind us waiting.

"Well, I guess you know our question, do you have an answer?" ArmorSkymon asked. We stared into Azulongmon's huge face.

"I'm aware of your problems." Azulongmon said, only when he responded it wasn't with his voice, he was speaking to us in our minds. I appreciated the discreteness. He continued, "What you have is called a 'Viral Instinct' in the Digital world. How it works is, whenever you are in danger, or an evil Digimon is nearby you lose control of your own functions and become a more vicious version of your normal self, bent on destroying the threat. You have it because you are a good virus type. A weak virus type may give in to the instinct and become completely evil. However strong ones like you are able to stave it off. If Brendan hadn't called for you might have lost your constitution and given in. It is a kind of security measure. Virus types tend to be stronger than the others, however they are cursed with this Virus instinct."

"Isn't there any way to get rid of it?" I whispered.

"I'm afraid not, it's something Herpetomon was created with, and as long as he is a virus type he will carry this burden, I'm sorry." Azulongmon projected.

"Oh, so we can't do anything?" I whispered.

"Nothing I can think of, a Digimon's type is set in stone." Azulongmon projected back. ArmorSkymon was depressed, I could see.

"Well hey, it's not so bad right, I mean it just makes you stronger in battle, right?" I said.

"Yeah, I guess, but I wish it wouldn't make me hurt the ones I love so much. All it does is cause trouble for you." ArmorSkymon said.

"Nooo, it's ok, I know you can't help it much." I said. "Come on." I led him back to the others, With his huge size the only thing I could do to console him was to awkwardly rub his foot. He was totally upset, and I couldn't seem to cheer him up. So much for the crest of Joy, I chuckled to myself. We were all gathered in the middle again.

"Now, we should begin the mission." Zhuqiaomon said. "I'll be returning to my domain in the south, on the way I will drop you off at Gazitown."

"That concludes this meeting." Azulongmon said, booming. Suddenly the dome that had appeared around us shot back into the ground. "I'm sure we'll meet again soon." He said. Azulongmon, Ebonwumon, and Baihumon turned, and as quickly as they had appeared, flew away. We all turned and made for Zhuqiaomon.

"Are you ready?" He asked. I looked around, everyone nodded.

"Yes, let's go." I said. We took a few steps forward so that we were at the edge of the platform. Zhuqiaomon was concentrating on something, and suddenly a large circle of fire appeared in front of us.

"Step onto the platform, the flames won't hurt you." He said. I was hesitant. Then from behind me Nick and Fatomon walked up and got on, I was reminded again of the fact that Zhuqiaomon augmented their crest, there must be some kind of connection. Once Nick was on we all followed. I thought is would be cramped, but the flames extended whenever we moved over the edge. The Zhuqiaomon began flapping his tremendous wings, our fiery platform moved with him. Then we were off, speeding in the direction we'd come from, past the city and past the forest. While we were speeding along I bent down and felt the flames. It was odd, they were warm, but my hand wasn't burning. A very interesting feeling.

"Oh, Zhuqiaomon, when we were in the city we were attacked by a weird evil Digimon. It was like he was made out of shadow." Nick said to him.

"That is Ruhemon? We've had a few reports of such attacks. I'm sure his place is in Alice-M, but aside from that we don't know much about him." Zhuqiaomon explained. The view from up in our fiery platform was incredible. Once we passed the forest I could see Opolis, there were a few In-Trainings bouncing up and down at the sight of Zhuqiaomon. The took a left somewhere along the way and in the distance I could make out another town. I could only assume this was Gazitown. Zhuqiaomon commanded incredible speed so the town that was only a speck a moment ago was already in full view. Soon enough we were there. Zhuqiaomon hovered outside the town for a moment before lowering our platform to the ground. When the platform hit the ground it disappeared.

"Good luck tamers." Zhuqiaomon said, and flew off towards the South. The town in front of us had many shacks and huts in it, some with thatched roofs. I turned to the rest of the group.

"Ok, This is it, our first mission." I said beaming. "Can you handle it? Our mission is to protect this town from the forces of Alice-M. It doesn't look like the attack has started yet so for now we'll look for this 'other tamer'. Once we've found her we'll wait around town for the battle to begin." I said. Everyone nodded.

"We'll split into two groups and search the city, the person will be obvious because she'll be the only other human. Ok, the groups shall be Matt and Codamon with Kayla and Gotsumon. The other will be Nick and Fatomon with ArmorSkymon and I." I said. We walked up to the edge of the city and in front of us was a large town center. There was a road to the right, a path to the left, and an alley ahead of us. "Ok, we'll go to the right you guys go to the left, we'll meet back here in about 10 minutes." We split up and moved into the crowds of leering Gazimon. From the look of this town it looked like not all Gazimon were evil. But because they are all viruses will they have the virus instinct? I assumed so and continued to look. Luckily Gazimon are pretty short so it was easy to see over them. We looked and looked, but couldn't see anything. The town was shaped like a rectangle. From the town center there are the right and left paths that go in a rectangle shape and meet at the alley in the middle. We didn't go into any shops or anything to look though, we just moved on.

"I see her, over there." ArmorSkymon said. He pointed with his lance to the left turn ahead of us, sure enough I saw a human form quickly make the turn. We pushed through the crowds and moved up to that spot where we saw her. I could see a form walk away and slip into the alley. I ran up to her before the next crown came. The others were held back in the crowd, but I moved on. I stepped into the alley and the person turned.

"Oh my god no way!"


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 22: Plus two makes ten**

I walked into the alley to see Anissa turn and look at me, just as she did, the darkness went by and covered the town. Anissa was a friend from my bus, the last person I'd expect to see here. On her shoulder a small bird digimon I'd never seen before was perched. Anissa wore black pants, black and white checkered shoes, and a black blouse with a black mesh jacket over it. Her hair had a red streak in it. There was a moment of supreme awkwardness that lasted until ArmorSkymon and the others rounded the corner.

"Wow, this is her? Who is she?" Nick asked, he was captivated. Anissa walked over and gave me a hug, which was odd. During the hug I turned and said, "This is my friend Anissa she's on my bus to school."

"Yeah, we're bestest pals." Anissa said. "So how are you? You guys are the other tamers?"

"Yeah, we have been for a while. There's more of us, come on, I'll show you." I told her and led her to the center of the town there was a fountain in the middle so it was easy to spot Matt and Kayla.

"Found her." I said.

"Cool, hi, I'm Kayla, Brendan's cousin, this is my Digimon Gotsumon." Kayla said. Gotsumon was being shy behind Kayla's leg.

"Hey, I'm Matt, and this is Codamon." Matt said.

"Ok, wow, more than I thought." Anissa said. "Well, I'm Anissa, I'm a friend of Brendan's, and this is my Digimon Finchmon. The Digimon had been so quiet I actually forgot about it. It was a fairly small bird, about as large as Anissa's head. It was crimson red. However its head was deep brown, and so were its eyes. It flew up and began darting around us, checking us out.

"You're right, he is tall." Finchmon said. "The others look fairly strong as well."

"Fairly?" Nick said. "Fatomon and I have the crest of Strength."

"Great." Anissa said with sarcasm, we could expect a lot of that from now on. "Anyway, do any of you know why we're here yet? Protagamon didn't tell me much."

"Let me explain." Kayla said. I could tell she was already appreciating the new addition to the group. "So you know about Alice-M right? Well they have the leader, Alice-M, a group of Ultimates, and a whole bunch of soldiers. They are going to be attacking here at some point, probably tomorrow. Our job for now is to stop the attack. In the end we'll probably have to stop Alice-M head on. Also, we talked to the Sovereign and we found out that the crests we have were made special by each Sovereign. I think Baihumon, the tiger god made yours. And we also found out that me, you, Nick, and Brendan are part of a prophecy, plus all of us are connected to Brendan somehow."

"That's a mouthful." Finchmon said.

"Wait, so Baihumon made mine, wuzzat mean?" Anissa asked.

"We don't really know yet." I said. "But there must be some kind of connection. When I was talking with Azulongmon who made my crest, I felt connected somehow."

"Ok, cool, so we just have to hang out here until Alice-M attacks." Anissa said.

"I suggest we find a hotel." Fatomon said.

"Right I think I saw one when I was looking for Anissa, it's this way." I said and led everyone towards the inn we passed. It felt pretty cool. I looked back to see a party of all my friends following, I felt empowered. Like with them and Herpetomon by my side I was invincible. :Ba Boom: And explosion nearby, followed by roar. Many Gazimon were running away, but some stayed, I imagined it was the Virus instinct. A Monochromon stepped out over the rubble of the building he'd blown to bits. Could it be the attack already? We ran in front of him while the other Gazimon attacked. He was alone, it must be a lone attack.

"Gazimon, please run, leave this to us." Codamon yelled to no avail, the Gazimon ran up and many were defeated by his "Volcanic Strike" attack. Was it their fate to be slaughtered.

"Don't worry about them, we have to stop that Digimon from getting in here and causing more chaos." I yelled.

"What do you mean don't worry about them, we have to help them." Nick said.

"But it's impossible to stop them, just worry about Monochromon." I said. We were about to rush in and attack when Anissa said.

"Don't worry about it, we'll handle this."

"Are you sure, by yourselves?" I asked.

"Yeah, just watch." Anissa said.

"Well, that's not quite how a team works, but sure show us what you can do, we have your back." I said. Anissa walked up in front of the Monochromon and Finchmon flew off her shoulder. The Monochromon was provoked, he jumped back and prepared to attack. "Volcanic Strike!" It yelled. He shot about 5 bursts of flame from his mouth and they all were heading towards Finchmon.

"Not quite." Finchmon said. "Fire Trick!" Suddenly all of the flames heading towards Finchmon stopped. I guess the Fire Trick allowed her to control fire elements. She began spinning the five flames in a circle around her, like a flaming wheel so it was facing Monochromon. Then one by one she shot the flames back at Monochromon. He was pushed back into a corner. Luckily for him he learned the nature of Finchmon's attack and he tried for a physical attack instead. He was no match, Finchmon was flying circles around him. "Nope, too slow." "Oh come on." Finchmon taunted.

"Quit showing off, let's end it already." Anissa said.

"Right, Fire Trick!" Like before many swirling fireballs began spinning around Finchmon. There were more fireballs this time, but they were smaller, and spinning in a more radical shape. Then Finchmon began pelting Monochromon with the fires until eventually he was forced to run away. Finchmon came back down and landed on Anissa's shoulder. They turned.

"Wow, I must say that was quite "Ill." I said. "So Finchmon can control fire?"

"Nah, it was just a fluke." Finchmon said.

"Ha, served, but yeah, we think she can control a new thing in each form. Like her champion Aeromon can control lightning." Anissa explained.

"Well, wait, why didn't we kill him?" Nick asked.

"There wasn't any need too Brutus." I said.

"Why, and why did you call me Brutus?"

"We didn't need to kill him because he wasn't doing anything wrong, this is how things work in the Digital world. And I called you Brutus because like Marcus Brutus you have a strong sense of nobility, but it's overshadowed by your naivete…no offence." I explained.

"Ok, I have no idea who that is, but whatever, let's just get to that inn." Nick said. We were soon there, the building was right next to where Monochromon attacked, luckily it wasn't leveled. It was a small thatch roofed building, it looked like it was very wide, but not very tall. Then it hit me.

"Oh, sorry ArmorSkymon, I guess you probably won't fit since your lance alone is probably too big to fit through the door. Umm." I mumbled.

"No it's Ok, you guys go ahead, I'll sleep out here." ArmorSkymon said. The others were heading in. I made an executive decision.

"Hey guys, I'm going to sleep out here with ArmorSkymon since he won't fit in the building. You guys can stay though, we'll be out here." I said.

"Oh, I see, ok, well we'll get you a bed, you can come in if ArmorSkymon de-digivolves." Matt said. They went inside and I was left with ArmorSkymon. Most of the Gazimon had run into their homes to escape the Monochromon attack. We went around back and sat against the hotel, looking out over the field in the back. ArmorSkymon set down his lance, picked me up, and then put me on his shoulder. We sat together looking out over the moonlight night, over a field of sweeping grass.

"Isn't this awesome? We finally have all of our questions answered." I said. ArmorSkymon nodded. I could tell he was thinking deeply.

"What's wrong?" I asked leaning over to see his face.

"The Virus instinct. It's so wrong, it forces Digimon to fight. I know it's the way of the Digital world, but what about me, what about, us? Digimon who have partners, in that case it's just a nuisance. It's not fair!" ArmorSkymon said. I felt for him, I could see it was really eating him up inside. "And those Gazimon back there, what good did it do them? It just pushed them into death, they didn't stand a chance. What if that happens to me?"

"Well…you're right, it's not fair, I don't know what to say. All I can say is that you just need to direct the viral anger to the right direction. Turn all that ferocity on Alice-M. As for you, you don't need to worry about the Virus instinct killing you, you're unstoppable." I said

"You've got me there." ArmorSkymon said. ArmorSkymon began shrinking, de-digivolving. It happened so suddenly, his lance disappeared into data and it came into Herpetomon. Herpetomon was back to his old self and I was in his arms.

"Oh, I didn't know you felt that way about me." I said laughing "Take me back to the others!" He carried me back to the inn he almost dropped me twice. Then we busted into the hotel and walked up the Gazimon at the counter.

"On your honeymoon?" He asked.

"Not quite, there was a group that came in not too long ago, which room are they in?" I asked.

"Downstairs, take a right, then take a left, first door on your right." The Gazimon said. Herpetomon followed the directions, he was still carrying me, and I still found it funny. When we got there the door was ajar. Herpetomon walked up and kicked the door open.

"Eyyyyy!" I yelled. The room was similar to the one we had in Opolis. Matt and K had the farthest beds from the door, then Nick and Anissa, and Herpetomon and I had an open bed to the right of the door. Codamon was napping on Matt's bed while Matt was pacing. Fatomon and Nick were sitting on the edge of their bed. Gotsumon was jumping on his and Kayla's bed. Anissa was walking around the room and Finchmon was flying up and down the aisle in the middle.

"What's up with you two, get married or something?" Anissa said.

"No, the Gazimon at the desk asked the same thing, I don't know why. When Herpetomon Digivolved back he caught me and I didn't feel like getting down so here we are. You can put me gently on the bed if you wouldn't mind." I said to him. He carried me over and dropped me on the bed.

"You guys are so weird." K said "All of you people."

"Even me?" Gotsumon said while he was jumping on the bed.

"Yes, even you, you're out of your mind." K said.

"I know." He said.

"Ok, who votes for going to bed?" Anissa asked. Matt, Codamon, K, Gotsumon, Nick, Fatomon, Anissa, Finchmon, and Herpetomon raised their hands, I didn't. They all looked at me.

"What?" I said.

"Forget it, we're going to bed." K said.

"Wait, hold on, I have a speech to give!" I said.

"Oh come on, can't we do this tomorrow?" Nick asked.

"NO! NO, NO, NO, it must be done now! Ok, seriously. Tomorrow is our first mission as a whole team. We are a group of 10, prophesized to save this world. Well, 8 of us were, but it's ok. So tomorrow we have to be ready to protect this town and prove our worth. The point of this speech was to get you all thinking about combo moves. Yes, Combo moves. Like how Herpetomon used to throw Gotsumon at an enemy. It sounds kind of corny, but I think if we use them correctly we can do a lot more damage. This will also make our group stronger as a whole."

"I don't get it, what's a combo attack?" K asked.

"You know, when two or even more of the Digimon join together and use some new awesome attack. Like, one that I was thinking of would be if Finchmon used her fire control to light Fatomon's sword on fire, since you can control fire a bit too right?" I asked, he nodded. "So there you go…"Fire Blade" so just keep them in mind and talk about them with us when we get another chance to talk like this. And get pumped, our first big fight is tomorrow. This is the real deal."

"I can't handle it." Finchmon said sarcastically.

"Me neither. Let's go to bed." Anissa said.

"Good night!" I yelled. Some responded, some didn't, we were all asleep in a matter of minutes anyway.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 23: Legion**

Herpetomon and I were the first ones up again. Our room was on the bottom floor so we couldn't tell whether the sun was up or not yet. I slept very well, even with Nick's snoring, and was anticipating the battle ahead. Herpetomon got up and started stretching, I just sat in bed thinking about all that we've been through so far. I became ecstatic again when I re-realized that I was living my dream. I was surrounded by my best friends, and were all on an adventure with our digimon, amazing.

"Good morning, I'm going to go see if the sun is up yet." I whispered to Herpetomon.

"Yeah, good idea." Herpetomon said and continued stretching. When I left I realized I'd forgotten how to get back to the desk so I wandered around until I found it. The Gazimon at the desk fell asleep on his papers. I crossed the empty lobby and opened the doors. Brilliant sunlight and a wondrous view greeted me. From the hotel door I could see down two of the long streets in Gazitown, they were bustling with hundreds of Gazimon and a few outsiders that were easy to spot. Among them were a Piximon buzzing around and a black and surly looking Apemon, I was suspicious of him. I let it pass for now and went back to see the others. The light was on in our room so they must've been getting up. When I got there Nick and Fatomon, and Anissa and Finchmon had gotten up. K, Matt and their Digimon were still out cold.

"G'morning." I said to those who had gotten up.

"Yeah." Nick said. "What time is it?"

"I have no idea, but the sun's up so let's go!" I said.

"My aren't you cheery." Anissa said. Then moaned as she got up, not a morning person.

"You're not happy? I'm quite, joyous." I said.

"No, I am, but why do we have to get up so early?" She asked

"Because we don't know when the attack will happen, we have to be ready." I said.

"Alright, so shouldn't we get them up?" Anissa asked, pointing to the four who were still asleep.

"Yes, lets." I said. I took Kayla, Nick took Matt. I just shook her and Gotsumon awake. She moaned, Gotsumon turned over.

"Come on, get up." I said.

"Mmmuuh. Why so early?" She asked

"Oh come on! We need to be prepared!" I said loudly.

"Fine, give me a minute." K said. Gotsumon sat up and yawned.

"Yeah, he's right Kayla we should get up." Gotsumon said.

"Fine! Get off me." She said. Gotsumon hopped off the bed and K got up. I sat by the door impatiently with Herpetomon. It took about 20 minutes for them all to get up and ready.

"Ok, are we ready?" I asked. Some nodded, Codamon and Matt aptly replied 'Yes sir'. It was random and unnecessary, but those two are serious about everything they do, respectfully. I led us out of the room and back up to the lobby, we woke up the napping desk attendant.

"Ahh, did you enjoy your stay?" He asked.

"Yes, thanks." Matt said.

"Good, we try our best to help the D-Corps." The Gazimon said smiling. We waved and walked outside. We assembled in a huddle in the area outside the inn.

"So, what's the plan?" Nick asked

"I'm not too sure, but I think we should each take a different part of town and if we see something we can get the others." I said.

"Sounds logical." Fatomon said

"Right. I don't care where you go, and this town is pretty small so if you see each other just go somewhere else, that way we'll always be on the look out." I explained "SO anyone think of any combo moves yet?"

"Um, I did." Finchmon said. "I was thinking that as Aeromon I could run electricity through this guy, maybe soup him up a bit." She was referring to Codamon.

"Is that Ok with you Codamon?" Matt asked

"Yeah sure. What's it called?" Codamon asked.

"What it has to have a name?" Finchmon asked.

"Well yeah, for convenience." Codamon explained.

"Ok, well how about the Voltage Up?" She said.

"Sure, let me know when you want to try it." Codamon said.

"Ok, good, any others?" I asked, no one said anything "Well I have one. With Gotsumon and Fatomon. Ok, Gotsumon, you could throw one of your huge boulders at Fatomon, and then he could hit the thing like a baseball at an enemy, would that work?"

"I can handle it." Gotsumon said.

"It'll be the Boulder Blast." Fatomon said.

"Can't wait to see them in action." Matt said.

"Alright, now I think we should split up and look out for the attack." I said. We were about to split up when the black colored Apemon from before approached. He stood in front of the group and didn't say a word. He grimly pointed behind the hotel. Then he walked over and snuck behind the building.

"What was that all about?" Asked K.

"I think he wants us to follow him." Herpetomon said.

"Yeah, but we can't trust him." I said.

"No, I think I know who that is, can we go see?" Codamon said.

"Fine, if you say so, if he turns out evil he's only a champion, we can handle him." I said. We walked over to find the black Apemon looking around as if looking for lurkers. We walked up behind him and stood there until he noticed us. When he did he made an awkward smile. Then he motioned for us to stand in an area away from him. He took a step back from the group and there was a poof of white smoke. A second later a new Digimon stepped out. It was a human looking digimon with pale white skin. On his face he wore some kind of make-up. His midsection was horizontally striped black. He also wore black shoes.

"Ha, I knew it was you, what are you doing here Mimon?" Codamon said.

"Shh, no one can know I'm here." He said.

"Oh, this is Mimon, the covert agent." I said.

"Yes, that is me, I'm under cover as an agent of Alice-M. As you can see I have the ability to change shape, but like you saw earlier, when I'm in another form I can't speak." He said.

"Oh wow, that's so cool." Nick said.

"Yes, but that's not important now, I've come to warn you about the attack today. An army of about 20 different Digimon will be coming. I've learned that 19 are soldiers, Rookies, and there is one leader who is one of the Ultimates."

"20!" Nick said moaning.

"Yes 20, but like I said, most are rookies so I think with your upper levels you should be able to handle it." Mimon said. "You are the saviors after all."

"Right, now let's see if we can live up to it." I said.

"Good, the army is a way off, I imagine they'll get here as soon as it's dark out. They are coming from the North east which is opposite of the direction where you entered the town." Mimon explained.

"Where are you going to be?" Matt asked

"I was only able to get away from the headquarters for a little while, I have to go back very soon to keep up my identity." Mimon said.

"Ok, well good luck, and thanks." Matt said. Mimon stepped back and was about to change back.

"Wait!" I said. "I have a question. When we were back in the city near Hub tower we were attacked by some weird shadowy digimon. He slaughtered some innocent Digimon and didn't say a word. The D-Gadget said his name is Ruhemon, do you know anything about him?"

"Oh, him. He is basically the second in command. Technically he is in the ultimate group of Alice-M, but his powers far surpass any ultimate. He's Alice-M's favorite. Speaking of Alice-M, Ruhemon is the only one who contacts him. No one else even knows what he looks like." Mimon said. "I don't know why Ruhemon was out there, but you must be wary of him, his powers are immense. Now I'm sorry, but I must leave. Good luck."

"You too." We responded. He meditated for a moment and another poof appeared and he re emerged as the black Apemon. The he dashed off into the sunlight field beyond Gazitown. It was good to know we had more allies out there looking out for us. When that was over I led us back to the center of town. We sat around the fountain. It was a pretty tense atmosphere.

"Can you believe this, 20 Digimon! Can we take this?" Anissa said

"Just calm down, everybody, it's not so bad, stay positive. We still have Ultimates that haven't appeared yet, and now we have these combo attacks too. We'll be unstoppable." I said. Morale was dropping fast, and my mind was blank.

"Guys come on, we need to be strong. We can't just lose this, our first fight. We have to take advantage of this and use this fight to show Alice-M how tough we are." Nick said. I was surprised, he'd been quiet for a while and out of nowhere he comes up with that, not bad.

"He's right, come on, we can handle this. Think of who we've beaten in the past, no problem." Codamon said. "Not only that, but we're even stronger now. We have 4 possible Ultimates, The flare, combos, and teamwork, there's no way we can lose."

"That was really corny. But he's right, we can handle this, we just need to stick together." Anissa said.

"Ok, so get ready as much as you can, stretching and everything. You never know when it's going to turn dark." I said. We proceeded to lounge around that fountain all day. Occasionally one of us would get up and walk around the Town Square. For our first mission this would be a big one, and we'd be tested, but I figured we could handle it. I was so anxious. It seemed like a long day, it just dragged on. At this point Fatomon was training with his sword. Nick was on a walk. Herpetomon was playing with the fountain along with Gotsumon. Anissa, Kayla, and Finchmon were talking. Matt and Codamon were napping. Soon after I had gone for my 8th walk of the day the Gazimon began going into their houses, the darkness was on its way.

"We'd better get over there." I said. Herpetomon and I led the group down the alley and to the right. We saw a gap between two houses so we snuck through and stepped into the field, our first battlefield. When we were all arranged in a line at the beginning of the field we could see the darkness coming. It was a majestic sweeping crescent that made it's way across the lands spreading calm, or unrest in our case. The wave hit us and washed over, we were all eager to get the fight underway. Slowly I began to see digimon making their way across the field. There were few at first, but then we began to see the ferocity of their numbers. I could make out a few Agumon, there was at least one Elecmon, and there were some Candlemon also. Lastly, their leader, the ultimate. The fearful presence came over the crest of the hill and we all got chills. A LadyDevimon. We were faced with a small army, 10 on 20.

"Heh, they are legion and there are many of them." I said.

"Huh?" Nick asked.

"Bible quote. Legion was the name of evil spirits who possessed a man. They said "I am legion and there are many of me." We are fighting a veritable legion." I said.

"Well, this Legion is going down!" Nick yelled. The legion was directly in front of us.

"Ok, now remember that we aren't fighting just 1 or 2 enemies here. Also, combo attacks, don't forget. Oh and the crests too."

"We know!" some exclaimed.

"Alright then, let's do this!" I yelled. Herpetomon who was practically writhing with viral instinct was let loose and pounced on a nearby Agumon. Codamon unleashed a Laser Dynamo into the group, maiming several. Finchmon was Fire tricking all of the flame attacks that came at her and throwing them back to her foes. Fatomon was caught in a grapple with one of the Guilmon in the group. Meanwhile, Herpetomon was slashing at the Agumon he'd originally attacked. The Agumon had some friends gathering. Herpetomon went in for another Lizard Claw, but the Digimon dodged and used a Pepper Breath. Herpetomon was hit and immediately the Agumon nearby piled on him. He was flat on the ground and in need of a boost. "Herpetomon Digivolve!" I yelled

:Digivolution Activate:

"Herpetomon Digivolve too…!"

"Skymon!"

The Agumon on top of him were now hanging from him. Two dropped off.

"Hey Fatomon." Skymon said with one of the Agumon struggling feebly in his hand. Fatomon finished off one of the legion and looked at Skymon. Skymon made a throwing motion and Fatomon nodded. Skymon then threw the Agumon at Fatomon who brought his sword down on it. It was a brutal kill, the Agumon was very defeated. By now Skymon had killed 2, Fatomon had killed 2, Finchmon had killed 3, Codamon had killed 4, and Gotsumon had killed 2. Leaving us with 6 not counting the LadyDevimon. Our digimon were getting much stronger. Luckily the Lady Devimon was waiting for us to finish. Either she was being kind or she was so sure of her success she saw no need to intervene. Either way I was glad with how we were going, but Codamon and Finchmon had been badly hurt over the battle.

"Keep it up, seven left." I yelled over the din. Gotsumon picked up one of the Candlemon and threw him at a weakened DemiDevimon, both were destroyed. Skymon had done a "Lizard Claw" and ended two more. The only rookies left were a DemiDevimon and an Agumon.

"Allow me." Fatomon said. He walked up to face the two on his own. After his previous performance we were sure he wouldn't lose. The Agumon charged at him and used Pepper Breath. Fatomon charged some kind of aura and slashed at the fireball, it was sent hurtling back at him and knocked the Agumon to the ground. Meanwhile the DemiDevimon had flown up and was slashing at Fatomon with his claws. The attacks did little because of all of Fatomon's armor. The DemiDevimon soon realized this so he retreated and used his Demi Dart. The little pink ball of energy shot out at Fatomon. It caught him off guard, but he quickly swung his sword in front of the blast. The blast dissipated. Then Fatomon stepped foreword and slashed the DemiDevimon out of the sky and into nonexistence.

"Fatomon look out." Nick yelled. The Agumon Fatomon knocked over had gotten up and was rushing him.

"Edge Drive." Fatomon yelled, he turned on the Agumon and drove his blade straight through him. The Agumon quickly disappeared into data. Fatomon coolly turned on LadyDevimon.

"You're next." He said quietly. LadyDevimon looked amused.

"So, this is the great prophecy? You don't look so extraordinary to me. Maybe when I defeat you Alice-M will grant me ascension." She said.

"No, you will not get through us. I don't know what you want with this town, but you aren't going to have it." I said stepping up.

"Well aren't we spunky?" LadyDevimon said.

"Enough talk." Fatomon said, and he charged LadyDevimon

:Digivolution Activate:

"Fatomon Digivolve too…!"

"Castimon!"

"Gotsumon Digivolve too…!"

"Icemon!"

"Finchmon Digivolve too…!"

"Aeromon."

All our champions joined Castimon in his charge. It was also our first time seeing Aeromon. She was much larger than Finchmon and Aeromon was a wintry white color. Castimon reached LadyDevimon and called "Villain! Thousand Stabs!" He began stabbing into a flurry. We thought LadyDevimon would be devastated, but she blocked every hit, every hit with her large mean claws. When his attack was done he was worn and she slapped him out of the way. Skymon grabbed her from behind and backdropped her into the ground. After his attack LadyDevimon teleported so she was now behind Skymon. Before she could attack she was pummeled by Icemon's Ice Bomb. She was hit with her hand in front of it and even though she was pushed back in the air she was able to toss the Ice Bomb back at Icemon and towards Kayla and Anissa. "No!" Icemon yelled and jumped back and caught his attack.

"Gotcha." LadyDevimon said. "Ghastly Claw." She swung around her huge claws and swept Icemon out from under the icy boulder. She had him in her hand and she then threw him into the ground. Icemon was barely able to get up again. Skymon was now launching "Lizard Claws" at her. Somehow LadyDevimon was able to dodge most of them. Then LadyDevimon made another move, she flew towards us the Tamers. Codamon got in her way.

"Are you ready?" Aeromon asked Codamon

"Yes, do me up." He said.

"Ok, let's try it. Charge Current!" Aeromon began creating balls of electricity and sending them into Codamon while Codamon began popping up his arsenal. LadyDevimon was till approaching. Codamon was now crackling with electric energy.

"Slug Scatter." He called. This time his attack was even more impressive. With every shot of his guns a small burst of electricity could be seen, also, every shot whizzed with electrical energy. LadyDevimon was stopped, caught in small explosions of electrical energy, which lit up the area. When the impressive light show was over LadyDevimon was nowhere in sight. Then, from nowhere LadyDevimon came out from behind Castimon and pinned him to the ground with her massive hand. Castimon's sword had fallen away from him. The others ran in to assist, but then LadyDevimon lifted her head. "Dreaded gaze." She called. Instantly the Digimon who were running to help all collapsed. I didn't think they were dead, just hurt and paralyzed. I ran to Skymon's side, he was trying desperately to move, but he couldn't. That's when it hit me.

"Nick, remember your crest, share your strength with Castimon." I yelled. Nick paused for a moment then ran up to Castimon and LadyDevimon. Nick was only one human, but he tried to lift LadyDevimon's hand with him. Castimon noticed this.

"Nick, what are you doing here, get back you'll just get hurt." Castimon said.

"No, you need my strength, with our combined strength we can make it to ultimate." Nick said. Castimon too paused for a moment, then he nodded. They began to lift the hand together.

"What, what's this?" LadyDevimon said.

"Grrrrah, Strength!" Nick and Castimon yelled. They slowly lifted the hand up and then threw it off to the side. The pair was glowing.

:Digivolution Activate:

"Castimon Digivolve too…!"

Castimon jumped in the air and once again his armor was stripped. Then he began to grow wings. Long red wings. Also new armor began to form it was very thick, black, with a red outlining. After the armor covered his chest a Triforce, like the one on Nick's crest appeared on it. The armor traced up his neck, but stopped at his head. His head was now exposed, and much more dragonic than before. He had two long horns out the back of his head. And red eyes to match his red skin. Lastly another sword appeared and matched the other one.

"Ungarmon!"

Our new ultimate landed on the ground with a crash and charged LadyDevimon. Then I had an idea "Flare activate" I said. Skymon began to glow, and slowly he could move again. He stood up slowly.

"Are you ok?" I asked

"Yeah, I'm alright." He said, before rushing off to help Ungarmon. I went around to my fellow tamers and told them the flare would help. A moment later we were back in full force. Meanwhile Skymon and Ungarmon were brawling with LadyDevimon. Then Ungarmon stepped back to use his attack "Double Disaster!" He called. Then he took out both sword and magically lit them on fire. Then he began an amazing combination of majestic sword slashes. Skymon was behind LadyDevimon, holding her so she wouldn't get away. When Ungarmon's attack was done LadyDevimon was hit by every slash and stab. She was hurt badly, when Skymon let her go she fell to the ground.

"So, you have some skill." LadyDevimon said "But you don't have what it takes, you'll never get past Ruhemon and the others. Ha ha ha" She began laughing incessantly

"Lizard Claw" Skymon called and shot LadyDevimon right in the face with it. LadyDevimon was gone, defeated.

"What was that for!" Kayla asked

"She needed to go." Skymon said.

"Yeah, but she was dying anyway, there was no need." Kayla said.

"He's right, she would've just tried something, who knows what she could've done." I said

"Yeah, but that's so mean." Kayla said.

"But it was also necessary." I said. There was a moment of silence in the dark field that was a battlefield only moments before.

"What should we do now?" Anissa asked

"I guess we should wait for someone to contact us again." I said. "That wasn't so bad was it?"

"I guess not, we plowed through the rookies." Codamon said.

"Yah we did." Aeromon said.

"LadyDevimon was pretty sneaky though. She had a point though, how can be beat Ruhemon and the others? We could barely touch Ruhemon the first time we saw him." Matt said.

"Don't worry about it, we'll find a way." I said "Plus only two of our digimon have gotten to ultimate, maybe yours will be able to hurt him too."

"Good point." Ungarmon said.

"Well, I guess we should just go back to the inn." I said. We all turned and began to head back. I could sense the pride we all had that we were able to accomplish our first mission.

By this time it was nearly pitch black outside. Ungarmon was so full of flaming energy he was actually giving off a red light. When we had nearly reached the inn I looked back over the field and at the scars we'd left upon the ground there. It was really a battlefield. Off in the distance I saw a slight glimmer. I didn't think it was anything important, but then I noticed it was moving towards us.

"Hey guys, wait a sec. Look at that." I said. They all turned.

"It's Protagamon." Codamon said.

"Here to tell us what to do next I'm sure." Kayla said. Protagamon approached rapidly. She hovered above the ground with those glorious wings. She was beaming.

"You did it! Oh, I knew you would." Protagamon said upon reaching us. It was odd seeing her so cheery, she was normally very professional.

"Yep, we did it, all of us." I said mentioning the whole group.

"Ah, you caught up with Anissa, good. I knew you were the ones from the prophecy. Judging by your performance I can see I was right, but we'll have to see what else you can do." She said.

"Well thanks, what's our next mission?" I asked.

"You're ready, right now?" Protagamon asked. I looked around and everyone was nodding their heads. "Ok then. Your next mission is to return to the D-corps base. From there we will plan an attack on Alice-M's base."

"Good, but how will we know where it is?" I asked.

"Codamon is in the D-Corps you moron." K said.

"Oh yeah, ok then, we'll meet you there I guess." I said

"Very good. Please hurry, we'd like to get this fight over with as soon as possible." Protagamon said "See you there." Then she began hovering away in the direction she had come from.

"Well, back north again." I said.

"Yes, but there's actually a faster way than cutting through the forest again. Now, if we go directly north there's a big chasm, and we can probably cross it with our Champions and Ultimates" Codamon said. "So you guys should stay that way until tomorrow."

"Actually I don't think I can hold the form over night." Skymon said.

"That's our dilemma, we can't keep our forms like you can." Ungarmon said to Codamon.

"By the way, why can you stay Champion?" Matt asked his partner.

"I can stay this way because I got to this level by defeating enemies and loading their data. That way I was able to accumulate enough data to change and stay with it. You guys use the mystical power of the D-Gadgets so you are able to get stronger in the other forms, but you can't hold it forever." Codamon explained.

"Right, that explains it." Matt said.

"So what should we do, Brendan?" Anissa asked.

"Huh? Oh well I think we should go out and make it over the Chasm tonight, then once we are past it we can take a break and let you guys Digivolve back to rookie. Then we go north I think until we hit the D-Corps base." I said, all this leader talk was throwing me off guard, I still wasn't used to it.

"Ok, let's go quickly then." Nick said. He was right, we were forced to leave the town we had just defended. I felt like we had done a good job, served our purpose. We began walking away from the torn field. Ungarmon continued to light the path.

"Hey Skymon?" I asked

"Yeah?" He said

"Will you carry me again?" I asked smiling up at him.

"Ugggh, fine." He said and lowered his hand. I stepped on, he lifted me up and we moved on. The others, except Kayla did the same. Anissa was riding Aeromon, Nick was on Ungarmon's shoulders, and Matt was laying on Codamon's broad back.

"Now look what you did!" Aeromon said to Skymon. "If you do it for one of them then they're all going to want a ride."

"See this is why we never stay in our big forms." Ungarmon said.

"Ooh, look at mister funny." I said laughing. The others did too. While we were walking Skymon said that he really didn't mind, to him, I was pretty light.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 24: Intense Negotiations**

We had only just passed the field of Gazitown when the chasm was in view. The landscape was relatively baron. The forest we had passed before was to our left, up ahead was the chasm and I could see a single small house in the middle of the landscape. The empty ground continued off to our right as well.

The light had come not long ago. It was an unusually windy day, even Aeromon had trouble flying. Personally I enjoyed the wind, I always have. Kayla, being the only one without a champion big enough to carry her, had hitched a ride on Ungarmon to Nick's delight. We were making good speed pressing on towards the chasm.

"Oh my god, look!" Anissa said pointing to the right of us. We all looked, but saw nothing.

"It's the ocean." Anissa said from atop Aeromon, "Just go over and see." Our Digimon brought us over to the right, and sure enough I was suddenly looking out over an incredibly vast ocean. The water itself had the same electric blue tinge that the sky did. We all stood there on the edge of the beach looking out over what seemed like an endless ocean. To the left of us there were some telephone poles sticking out of the water.

"What the hell?" Kayla said.

"Who knows, this place is nuts." Matt said.

"Wow, the ocean is pretty beautiful." I said.

"Very." Nick said.

"What's that thing over there, it looks like a storm or something." Kayla said pointing on the water to our left, far out. I was so amazed by the plain sight of the ocean that I never saw the thing. When I looked sure enough it was a giant black cloud, when I looked carefully I could see a small island underneath it."

"That…is Alice-M's base." Codamon said.

"It's what? That huge thing is the base? Why haven't we attacked it yet?" Nick asked.

"Hello, that is the big base, we can't just run in there bravado style." Skymon said.

"My comrade makes a good point. We'll need loads of planning to make this go swimmingly." I said.

"Well we have Digimon working around the clock to make a plan for us, by the time we get there they should have a few ideas." Codamon said.

"That place is uber creepy." Anissa said.

"Word." I said "That's even more of a reason why we should get to the D-Corp's base as soon as possible. Let's keep going." Skymon led us off. I could tell some of the others were a little unsettled by the sight of the fortress. They'd get over it.

"Uggh, I'm so bored." Kayla said before we had reached the small shack before the chasm.

"How can you be bored, we're in a mysterious land that is inhabited by monsters, no offence to those present." I said.

"Yeah, but there's nothing to do." Kayla said.

"Just revel in the landscape or something, we're almost there." I said. Kayla just pouted at Gotsumon. We were approaching the shack on the right. It looked like some kind of general store or something. There wasn't much noise coming from the place I assumed it was empty. When we arrived I asked Skymon to put me down and those of us small enough to fit inside it went in, sure enough it was empty. The place was some kind of store, there were various trinkets I couldn't even recognize, and some of it might have been food.

"What is an open store doing in the middle of nowhere?" I asked.

"Dunno." Anissa said.

"It could be a trap, I say we get out, you never know." Matt said.

"Yeah, let's go just in case." I said and led everyone out. We approached our Digimon and were led over to the chasm nearby. It was a pretty large chasm, a huge crack in the ground.

"Ok, I have an idea about how we can do this." I said. "We all know Skymon is the best jumper around, so Skymon can carry the humans and Gotsumon across, then he and Aeromon will help Codamon and Ungarmon get across. Sound good?" I asked

"I can handle it." Skymon said. The others agreed as well. I instructed Skymon to choose a person to pick up.

"Ok Anissa, hop on." Skymon said lowering his hand, then he stepped to the edge of the chasm and jumped us across. We were actually in the air for a while, that's how large it was. Skymon landed as swiftly as if he were only jumping himself across. He put Anissa and I down and then bounded back over the chasm for more people. This time he chose Kayla, Gotsumon, and Nick. He repeated his last performance, dropped them off, and went back for Matt. When Matt was with us we had Skymon, the Tamers, and Aeromon on our side, but Codamon and Ungarmon would be the tricky ones.

"I have an idea, I can go help them get over," Aeromon said. "I can lift them up for a boost when they jump, then Skymon can grab them and pull them up."

"Sure, if you think you can." I said. Aeromon leered at me and flew over to Ungarmon first. "Ready?" She asked, Ungarmon nodded. Aeromon loosely grabbed Ungarmon's shoulders, he backed up, ran to the edge and jumped. He made good distance, but it wasn't enough so Aeromon began to lift him up just enough so that Skymon could grab him by the hands and slowly pull him up.

"Geez, what do you weigh?" Aeromon said.

"Maybe 500." Ungarmon said.

"Yeah, 500 tons maybe, ok, get ready for Codamon." Aeromon flew back and got ready to lift Codamon up as well. He backed up, ran full speed, and jumped, he made better distance than Ungarmon did, but not enough. Aeromon helped him up a little and Skymon and Ungarmon helped him up. After a minute we were all safely on the other side of the chasm. Before we began moving again we let our champions and ultimate go back to being Rookies for now. They were approaching us from the edge of the chasm. When suddenly there was a dark presence. I only saw it for a split second, but there was something coming towards us, fast.

"Ahhhh!" Anissa screamed. We all looked to her and to our dismay, we saw a Digimon had in fact gotten to her. There was a Phantomon behind her with a scythe to her neck. He had little form, all I could see was the ghastly cloak he was wearing and two red eyes glaring from underneath.

"Don't move." The Phantomon said. We all froze. Then two more Phantomon popped up in front of the other one.

"What is this?" I asked

"It's very simple, come with us or she dies." The Phantomon with Anissa said.

"You're obviously with Alice-M." I said.

"Bingo." One of the other Phantomon said. "We are 'The Ghastly Trio"

"So what do you want us for?" I asked "To get rid of us?"

"Correct, you 'saviors' are the only things in our way. Without you we'd be able to slowly corrupt the entire digital world until it belongs to Alice-M." the Phantomon said. "So, either you come with us, or this girl dies." I was totally stumped, I had no idea what to do. If we fight back they'll kill her, even if we free her they are 3 Ultimates and we wouldn't be able to digivolve in time to stop them. I couldn't even talk to anyone or they might bring down the scythe. I couldn't lose her, not after all we'd been through. We had been friends for years and I wasn't going to let this be the end. But I was stumped. Letting them take all of us wasn't an option, but saving her wasn't an option either. I was almost crying, but then I realized I couldn't let this crumple me, I needed the joy. To remember the happy times we've all had. Maybe with joy, I could save her. From the looks of things the others were going through the same though process, but time was wearing thin.

"What is your decision?" The Phantomon said, "You've got 5 minutes to figure it out." Five minutes for what. Even if we were able to light the crests if we made one move they'd kill her. It was impossible, we were stuck. If we free her they'd probably destroy us, and if we don't free her they'll do her in, we can't win. No ideas came, nothing. I began to reach for the D-Gadget slowly.

"No, no, no, you don't want her to die do you?" The Phantomon said pulling the blade closer to her neck. Poor Finchmon was helpless to save her partner, we were all helpless. Suddenly the Phantomon holding the scythe was struck. Something attacked him, but none of us had moved an inch. I don't know what the attack was, but I took the advantage.

"Everyone, digivolve, now!" I yelled.

:Digivolution activate:

"Herpetomon Digivolve too…

Skymon"

"Fatomon Digivolve too…

Castimon"

"Gotsumon Digivolve too…

Icemon"

"Finchmon Digivolve too…

Aeromon"

The joy of our memories burned inside me.

"Skymon Digivolve too…

ArmorSkymon."

The strength of his soul burned inside Nick.

"Castimon Digivolve too…

Ungarmon."

The sincerity towards her companion burned inside Kayla.

"Icemon Digivolve too…"

Similar to Gotsumon's first digivolution to Icemon this Digivolution only involved a color change. This time Icemon changed to a vibrant red color, it looked like he was on fire.

"Meteormon!"

This was it. Whatever that attack was it gave us a fighting chance. The Phantomon who had been attack recovered and it was go time. 3 Phantomon versus 3 Ultimates and 2 Champions. We couldn't lose.

"Now, revenge." Aeromon said, she had been waiting to tear that Phantomon apart. "Thunder Trick!" She called and sent 5 bolts of lightning converging through the Phantomon who had gotten Anissa. Aeromon proceeded to tear away at him with her claws. Our new ultimate, Meteormon was calling down a giant meteor with his attack "Galactic crush." He was fighting another Phantomon. Skymon and Ungarmon had teamed up on another. Ungarmon with his two flaming swords and ArmorSkymon with his mighty lance. The Phantomon attacked "Shadow scythe" He swung his scythe at Ungarmon. The actual scythe didn't hit him, but he was still hit with something. It hit his armor, but he could still feel the pain in his arm. Ungarmon's attack was stopped but ArmorSkymon with his virus instinct was vicious as ever. While the Phantomon had his back turned ArmorSkymon concentrated for a moment, building up power, then he brought the scythe down with tremendous force, right through the Phantomon. He was destroyed and ArmorSkymon took the data. Codamon used his Laser Dynamo on the Phantomon Meteormon was fighting. We decided to let Aeromon have her way with the one that attacked Anissa, she deserved to have him all to herself. The Phantomon Meteormon and Codamon were fighting had been destroyed. We sat back and watched Aeromon completely destroy the other Phantomon.

"Yeah, that's what you get, messing with my tamer, fool." Aeromon said. Aeromon was done and came back to us. Victory was ours.

"Are you ok?" I asked Anissa. The Phantomon had given her a small cut on her neck, but she was fine.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, thanks everybody." Anissa said.

"Good, now what was it that saved you?" I asked.

"Another D-Corps elite I'm sure of it." Codamon said. We all looked around and soon we saw him. He stood by the forest on our left, standing on one of the tree limbs. He was tall, and wore all red. Like the other D-Corps elites he wore a facemask. The coolest thing about him was he wore a trailing red scarf. He wielded a very small sword, so small that it might be considered a knife. I took a step towards him.

"Hey, thanks for the help back there." I said. He simply gave a thumbs up and back flipped into the forest. "Wow, who was that. He might be the coolest thing I've ever seen."

"Ahem." ArmorSkymon coughed.

"Uhhhh, except for you. That guy was cool in a different way. You're still my favorite." I said, ArmorSkymon smiled.

"That was Missimon, another elite. He fights with energy blasts and that crazy knife of his." Codamon said.

"Well, it just goes to show how not-alone we are." Anissa said.

"Right-o." Well, now that we're alone, you guys can finally de-digivolve and relax, thanks again for carrying us." I said. All but Meteormon Digivolved back to rookie. We all sat around finally able to relax. Most of us went to sleep even though it was still light, we hadn't slept the night before. Now that we'd passed the chasm the D-Corps should be just north of here. Then who knows what. It'll be intense that's for sure.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 25: Rivalry**

I was the first to wake up from my nap. It was still light out, and it was actually very bright. I fell asleep in a bad position and had a cramp in my neck. At least I had gotten some sleep at all. I stayed still because Herpetomon fell asleep on me earlier. Anissa and Finchmon were the next to get up.

"Hey." I said.

"Hello." She responded.

"Sleep well?" I asked

"Yeah, but this place is so crazy." She said "I still can't believe we both ended up here."

"I know, that is pretty weird, it has something to do with me, but I don't know what it is." I said.

"You don't think I'm holding you guys back do you?" She asked.

"What, no, no way, everyone on the team is important, and necessary. You and Finchmon have some serious skills and I'm glad that of all people, you'd be the one here." I said, this was my lame attempt at flattery.

"Smooth, but thanks anyway." Anissa said. She smiled in that sad way she always used to. I wonder how she would get that crest to light, she seemed to almost be afraid of love, afraid to love. I never understood, but decided not to inquire. I didn't want to hurt her. After our small discussion Codamon and Nick woke up, then Kayla and Gotsumon. Fatomon hadn't gone to sleep, he sat a little ways from the rest of the party. Lastly Matt and Herpetomon woke up.

"Ok, ready to move on?" I asked. Everyone responded "Yes!" I was glad to see the enthusiasm, false or not. We got moving again, towards the north. I didn't lead this time, I hung back to see how everybody was doing. I went to Nick first.

"Hey, how's it going?" I asked

"Not bad, it's so hot though." Nick said.

"Yeah, I guess it is." I said, then went in to whisper. "What's with Fatomon, he's been really quiet since we came to the Digital world. More quiet than usual."

"I was worried at first, but he said that it's his rival, he used to have a rival digimon that he fought with all the time, but he was never able to beat him before. It's kind of his goal." Nick said.

"Oh, well that's cool, I'm sure he can beat him now." I said. Then I moved around the group to K. I was on her left, but tapped her right shoulder. She looked the other way, then back at me.

"Stupid." She said.

"Yeah, I know." I said.

"So Meteormon, how are you doing?" I asked.

"Good, and look, I'm all warm now." He said.

"It's true, check it out." K said. So I put my hand out and felt the red burning rocks he was made of. He really was warm, it wasn't like he was on fire, it was more like the rocks themselves were emitting heat.

"Oh wow, that's so cool, and you were cold when you were Icemon right?" I asked.

"Yeah, K always complained." Meteormon said.

"Shut up, no I didn't." She said.

"It's Ok, I heard you." I said. Then I moved back up to the front. With Herpetomon.

"And how are you doing?" I asked him.

"I'm doing ok," He said "I'm still a little mad at the virus instinct though. I have a feeling something bad is going to happen with it."

"Oh, that. Well, change that anger into joy and we'll have this fight won in no time." I said smiling. He continued to frown, he was bringing me down. "Just try to stay focused" I said.

"Fine, I guess, but it's so hard." He said.

"I know, I know." I said. I put my arms around his shoulders and kept walking. We were crossing some kind of desert now. Even though we didn't need water, it was still very hot out. We dredged on though. Kayla kept complaining. Finally after about 2 hours of walking the D-Corps base was in view. It was a pretty amazing structure, unexplainable. It was one main tower in the middle, surrounded by many curving crescent shaped buildings. I couldn't see from where we were, but I image each of the smaller buildings were connected to that main tower. The base was slowly getting closer and closer to us. All of us were drained from the heat. We had come to our destination. We were standing in front of one of the crescent shaped buildings. There was no door however.

"Ok, are we on the wrong side?" Matt asked Codamon.

"No, just give it a second." Codamon said so we all watched the building. Then slowly the material of the building in front of us opened, it was pulled away like a curtain. The new doorway opened into a short hallway and an opening ahead.

"Wow, that was so cool, the stuff just, like, melted away." I said. The others moved on ahead of me, I was still looking at the concrete that had magically moved aside.

"That was so cool." Herpetomon said with me.

"Hello, Mr. Leader and friend, let's go." Finchmon said. We were entranced by the fancifulness of the building, but were jarred by Finchmon's yelling. We ran up to them, but once we stepped in the wall behind us came back, it looked like it had been there the whole time.

"Uhh, that's so cool." I said while I was catching up to the others. They were in the small opening at the end of the hallway. In front of us was and Angemon sitting at a desk. Behind us on the other side of the clearing was another hallway.

"Hello, you must be the tamers." The Angemon said in an angelic voice. His voice was like nothing I'd heard before. Herpetomon had a leathery voice, Gotsumon had an almost raspy voice, but this Angemon had a strange voice, it was like the words weren't coming from his mouth, the words were just, appearing. I found it

"Yes, we are the tamers." I said.

"Good, it's great to meet you." He said, then he got up and shook all of our hands. "If you go down this hallway, take a left, another left and then enter the first door on your right there will be a large meeting room. If you could go in there and wait for Protagamon please."

"Oh, ok then, bye." I said. I led everyone the way he told us to go.

"Wow, what a freak." Anissa said.

"What? He was just happy to see us, we are heroes remember." I said.

"Right." Anissa said. We came to a white door where Angemon said it would be. I opened the door and sure enough there was a huge meeting room inside. There was a long table in the middle that stretched across the whole room. There were more than 5 seats, so I assumed this wasn't just for the D-Corps elites. On the wall opposite the door there was a large window with a view of the tower. Around the tower there was a field where many Digimon were going about their jobs. Some were training, some were talking, it was pretty interesting.

"So, let's just hang here for a while." I said. We each took a seat somewhere around the table next to our Digimon. Except Finchmon and Codamon obviously, they found other places to sit. It was still very bright outside, and the darkness would probably be coming soon.

I was by the window looking at the tower in the center of the place. It looked a little bit like the Hub Tower, but this one was much thicker, probably to make it more battle-ready. It was an amazing scene, all of the buildings were glistening white in the same way Protagamon does. Protagamon herself arrived after about 20 minutes.

"Everyone come quickly, we have an emergency, there's a Digimon in the compound and he's asking to see Fatomon." She said.

"Fatomon?" Nick asked

"I see, call back your soldiers immediately, where is he?" Fatomon asked

"Wait, who is it?" Nick asked.

"He's approaching the quad area." Protagamon said. Fatomon left, Nick followed, then the rest of us followed suit. Fatomon had obviously been here before. He ran through the compound outside to where the door to the quad was. He opened it and stepped outside, we all followed. The darkness had come. The main tower in the center was lit up so we could see fairly well. Across the quad the Digimon meditated. We approached slowly, Fatomon leading the way. He drew his sword. We went closer and closer. The Digimon was up in a flash and it threw a large shuriken towards us. There was something Fatomon wasn't telling us, he knew exactly how to block such an attack. We were all safe and the enemy was now standing in front of us with the shuriken.

"So, you finally came back?" The Digimon said.

"I'm here aren't I" Fatomon said.

"Wise-ass as always." He said

"I see you still fight dirty Ninjamon." Fatomon said.

"Fatomon, what's going on here?" Nick asked. Fatomon turned to him

"This is my old rival, Ninjamon. Before I came to the Real world we used to fight all the time, but I could never beat him. Because he beat me I was honor bound to give my life to him." Fatomon said. "One day I asked him if he would let go to the real world to search for a partner, needless to say, he let me go."

"Oh wow. So let's go, Brendan, K, let's get him." Nick said.

"No!" Fatomon and I said at the same time. Fatomon looked at me and saw that I understood.

"We can't butt in on their fight. This is something they have to do themselves." I said.

"But what if Ninjamon tricks him again? Fatomon?" Nick said.

"It's Ok, now that I have you guys behind me there's no way I can lose. I don't want you to help me either, put the D-Gadget away." Fatomon said. So Nick reluctantly put it in his pocket. We backed off to the side and the two opponents stood directly across from each other, about 35 feet apart. The other soldiers had been called away so it was just us out here, fighting in the dim light of the tower. I could see people looking from the windows though.

"We have…unfinished business." Ninjamon said.

"Man, you ain't kiddin" Fatomon said. They just stared at each other for a while, the tension was very strong. Then they charged. Ninjamon drew his sword, but it was smaller than Fatomon's. Their swords clashed together.

"So you have gotten stronger." Ninjamon said. The jumped back and pulled their swords away. Ninjamon took out two shuriken and threw them at Fatomon. Fatomon took his sword and deflected them with ease. They were sent flying into the ground. Ninjamon drew his sword again and charged at Fatomon. Fatomon slashed at him, but Ninjamon had jumped over him. Ninjamon took a stab at Fatomon's backside, but Fatomon swung the sword behind him and deflected it. Then Fatomon spun around and took a diagonal slash, it hit. Ninjamon was leaking a little data, but he was still able to fight. He took up his sword and slashed at Fatomon's head. Fatomon didn't even block because the attack just hit his helmet and the sword was knocked out of Ninjamon's hands. Fatomon took advantage and punched him in the chest, sending him backwards. Ninjamon appeared to be down, but once Fatomon approached Ninjamon took out and threw another shuriken, it hit Fatomon's leg. He was still walking, it had only grazed him. Ninjamon was out of shuriken so he took the sword again. Fatomon made a hard slash down on him. Ninjamon put up his sword and tried to block. The force of Fatomon's attack had cut Ninjamon's blade in half. The cut off piece fell to the ground and Ninjamon looked shocked. Fatomon stood over him with his sword pointing at him.

"Oh, well, you have some skill." Ninjamon said. "Was it your partnership with the human that made you so strong?"

"Yes." Fatomon said.

"Well, you know the drill, I'm yours." Ninjamon said.

"Yes, but I won't kill you, you did me that favor." Fatomon said "I'll just bring you along on our mission if it's alright with our leader."

"Yeah, it's fine with me." I said.

"What? How can we bring him with us?" Nick asked, Fatomon had helped Ninjamon up and they walked over to us. "He'll probably kill us in our sleep."

"I promise to you I won't." Ninjamon said. "I'm honor-bound."

"Yeah, see, it's Ok." I said "Hi, I'm Brendan, this is my Digimon Herpetomon." I said, then continued to introduce the others.

"Not a bad group." Ninjamon said "So what's the deal?"

"That's what we are going to find out." I said. "Let's go." I led us back to the meeting room, but I got us lost and Codamon had to help me out. We were now an 11-strong force. Even without a tamer Ninjamon was a skilled fighter and another valued member. I stepped in with the others following me. Protagamon and a few other Digimon were standing by the window, they had been watching the fight.

"We're back." I said. I came in and sat down, the others came too. The Digimon who were watching looked puzzled.

"What're you doing Fatomon? You had the chance to get rid of him, what's going on?" A Silphymon by the window asked.

"Have you no honor?" Fatomon asked "Long ago this Digimon and I fought time and time again. I was always defeated and we came to an agreement, the loser would owe his life to the winner. Ninjamon, here, could have killed me, but he didn't, I'm just repaying the favor."

"Oh, I see." The Silphymon said.

"Yeah, so now, if it's alright with Protagamon we'd like to bring him with us on whatever this mission is." I said.

"Yes, if that's alright with Ninjamon. He did break into the compound, but I suppose he wasn't go to harm anyone, we can just…let it slide." Protagamon said.

"The only reason I came was because I knew Fatomon would be here." Ninjamon said.

"Very good, well, let's just drop it and move on to the mission." Protagamon said. "Now, You all know of the threat Alice-M is causing to the Digital world, it has been terrorizing us for months now, and this is the beginning of the end of it. Tamers, your mission is to infiltrate Alice-M's base and destroy him." Protagamon said.


End file.
